On Monday, Adobe introduced Illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack, a set of plug-ins for its drawing program that provide preliminary support for HTML5 and CSS3 and extend Illustrator's SVG capabilities.
In April, Apple CEO Steve Jobs criticized Adobe's Flash technology and urged Adobe to "focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind."
HTML5 is the emerging standard for the next generation of Web applications. Both Apple and Google have been pushing HTML5 as an open development platform, though Apple's support for the still-limited technology has also served to underscore the value of writing more powerful native iOS apps.
At the time of Jobs's denunciation of Flash, it appeared that Adobe had no choice but to increase its support for HTML5 in its Creative Suite software if the company was to continue to provide content creation tools that were relevant to iOS developers. Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch declared his company would make the best tools in the world for HTML5 because Apple's iOS developer rules effectively banned Adobe's Flash technology, among others.
But Adobe's criticism of Apple reached ears in Washington and the possibility of regulatory action, coupled with complaints from the developer community, prompted Apple to reconsider its rules.
Though pushed to support HTML5, Adobe isn't giving up on the technology now that Flash is back in the game. Earlier this year it delivered HTML5 support for its Dreamweaver Web authoring application. Now it's Illustrator's turn, and there's apparently more to come.
"These Illustrator developments have been in the works for a while," said Adobe Photoshop principal product manager John Nack in a blog post. "Dreamweaver has just made its HTML5 Pack for CS5 official; and you’ll see more from Adobe going forward."
Time will tell whether Adobe's torrid romance with HTML5 will retain its initial spark or whether it will dwindle to reveal a marriage of convenience.
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