Knowledge blog

We all know that organizations won’t be able to run their Flash courses after 2020. With this backdrop, organizations are fast switching from Flash-based eLearning to HTML5 (Hyper Text Markup Language) based learning. Unlike Flash, HTML5 functions on modern day browsers and has the ability to run online courses across different mobile devices. Thanks to HTML5, mobile learning is now a reality. While all this is happening, organizations like yours, which have Flash-based e-learning courses must be in a fix as to what happens to all their courses.

This is time you need to start converting your Flash modules if you haven’t already. As a first step create an inventory with list of courses, games or other Flash modules. Then you need to analyze whether you want to convert the legacy Flash files in-house or outsource the conversion. Based on the inventory you have created it is easier for you to analyze whether it is possible in-house or not. You know the strength and expertise of your team. If you decide to outsource the conversion, you need to find the right vendor for your legacy course conversions. Here are some simple ideas to help you spot your right match.

Although the new platform is HTML5 the most important point is to make sure the vendor you chose has good experience with Flash platform. Make sure they have extensive knowledge with Flash and Actionscript and have done so many projects on Flash. The team with good experience in Flash can study the Flash files easily and create a conversion strategy easily. They can also group the Flash files and create common standards/strategies so the cost can be reduced. They know the best ways to extract the graphics and other assets from legacy Flash files so the quality can be assured.

Make sure the team is just not with HTML5 conversion they are also good with HTML5 creations from scratch. Explore to see they have created at least few HTML5 and JavaScript based games from scratch. Because if the vendor doesn’t have extensive knowledge on HTML5 they will fail during conversion especially on the interactive part. As in our experience most interactive portions have to be recreated or modified using JavaScript. To optimize and bring the best performance in mobile devices you need to write the JavaScript with latest standards in most cases. Hence this is very important that the vendor you choose is strong enough to create new HTML5 and JavaScript based complex games or interactive stuffs.

Finally this is important that you need to assess the Vendor’s experience with the Flash to HTML5 conversion projects. You can do it in following steps,

Finally the cost will be a factor which you need to talk with vendors, compare and decide. But make sure your investment doesn’t fail by going through a startup or trainee vendors. So picking up a budget for a reasonable cost is important than going into a lower budget for a reduced quality.

And more important is going through the past projects and talking with the vendor multiple times to audit their knowledge and abilities will help you choose a best vendor over the Flash to HTML5 conversion projects.