SlideShare ditches Flash, gets a speedy HTML5 facelift

If you’re in the game of making presentations available to everyone, as SlideShare is, then it’s important to truly make them available as widely as possible. It’s with this in mind that the SlideShare team has gone to work reformulating its slide-sharing magic into HTML5.

This change follows the trend that we’re starting to see from a number of other sites, and makes certain that SlideShare content is now going to work as it should on iOS devices, which are making up a major part of mobile Internet use. On top of the accessibility boost, the HTML5 conversion means a speed upgrade for the site, too.

The other, rather huge, change here is that your SlideShare content will now get better search crawling because of its HTML5 implementation versus Flash. The SlideShare team tells me that anything that is submitted in PowerPoint or Word formats will be rendered into HTML5 “flawlessly”.

There are some housekeeping changes, too. SlideShare says that registered users are going to get the biggest benefit:

“As of today, registered users who log into the mobile site will find an enhanced experience, including the ability to view private content, to view content from friends, or to favorite content.”

Metadata, including views, embeds and favorites, as well as related content will get a boost, too. Featured presentations are now on the homepage and there’s a new mobile-optimized Help page, as well. Oh, and if someone is using an old browser, no worries, Flash support is still there but it’s behind the scenes.

With over 30 million monthly visits and a freemium model, SlideShare has placed itself into the top tier of services for getting your word out to the masses. Add to that services such as Zipcast which are changing the way that you can do live presentations and the team has been on quite a roll lately. The new HTML5 focus, along with the speed improvements it brings, are huge.