Developers anticipating HTML5 face the arduous task of switching from Adobe Flash’s video features to HTML5 with JavaScript. A new online course aims to smooth that path.

Lisa Larson-Kelley’s online course, “Taking the Leap from Flash Video to HTML Video,” clarifies the differences between the two video delivery methods and explores the capabilities of each. The goal is to teach website developers how to achieve the same basic video-related features in both Adobe (News – Alert) Flash and HTML5 with JavaScript.

“Flash has long been the de facto solution for video playback on the web. But since it won’t – and likely never will – play on iPhone (News – Alert) and iPads, clients are demanding native video playback in the browser using HTML5,” explains Lisa. “Since it’s implemented differently in the various browsers and devices, and doesn’t do everything Flash can do, it’s been difficult for developers to get a handle on it. I’ve created this course to ease that pain – laying out the differences clearly and showing you how to do the same things in both technologies. I think it’s a great way to learn.”

The course offers side-by-side examples, so users can see how to achieve the same video tasks in both applications. While following along in the course, students build a full featured video player in each technology.

Flash has fallen out of favor among developers since 2010, when Steve Jobs (News – Alert) refused to integrate the Adobe Flash plug-in into Apple’s mobile devices, especially the highly popular iPhone. Apple prohibits the use of Flash in Apple’s terms-of-service agreement for app developers.

HTML5 is currently a candidate recommendation with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C (News – Alert)). Once endorsed, it is expected ease the ability to include and handle multimedia and graphical content on the Web without having to resort to proprietary plugins and APIs.