SVG. Hmm. I don’t want to get into any kind of canvas/SVG debate — it’s the provision of the functionality that counts; I’m agnostic which of SVG or Canvas gets used.

SVG is at a point where it’s getting viable — and it’s better designed than Canvas in a number of respects (not being scripting dependent is good, for a start!) — but it’s also got a rocky co-existance with HTML5. You could fairly read everything in the above as ‘canvas/SVG’ if you liked. The inclusion/removal and doubts over the use of SVG in HTML (rather than XHTML) make it flakier in this context.

If SVG makes it, and I hope it does, then that’s great. Canvas is going to be the driver for runtime, scripting driven graphics, though.

ehm, what about SVG ?

There will always be a higher tier of functionality than open web technologies and browser upgrade cycles can offer; Flash will fill that role with aplomb. But Flash’s acquired role as the de facto ‘video element for HTML4’ is an anomaly in my view. The web being reliant on a single-vendor, proprietary solution for a core media type is not right.

One thing to add, that I think is part of the tide moving video and audio towards HTML 5, is that more and more of us are using HTML/CSS and Javascript to embed and control what happens with the Flash on the page.

On several sites I’ve worked on, the only thing the Flash is doing is rendering the audio or video—all of the interaction is handled via Javascript and much or all of the styling is handled via HTML / CSS. On an audio-only player based on SoundManager 2 , the Flash is totally behind the scenes (no aspect of it is even visible on the page).

Assuming HTML5 gets implemented to the point that it successfully handles common audio and video codecs cross-browser, on many sites, it will be practical to just swap out the Object elements for Video and/or Audio elements.