While this blog focuses on mostly on the beauty of visual creativity, the world of website development can showcase technical beauty as well. With the advent of tablet computing and HTML5, we are in the midst of a reset of sorts among interactive site development. Back when Flash was first introduced, creative types and developers crossed over to create ever more impressive feats of visual wizardy right within our browsers. Flash continued to evolve, and the power that afforded produced more and more interactive content that tied in with data driven sites to create some really cool experiences.

Of course we all know what happened next...the iPad took the world by storm, and its lack of Flash support ushered in a new era that forced developers to abandon Flash to produce interactive experiences that work within its browser. All the years of progress and experience in the Flash platform were thrown out the window, the web now having to rely on the brand new HTML5 technologies to produce similar content. The results have been a mixed bag, as Javascript based animation is often slow and clunky on mobile optimized processors, at times limiting what can be accomplished and resulting in a step back in presentation from the Flash era.

That said, we are starting to see some truly impressive work being done sans the Flash plugin, so today I'm going to show you some sites that have striven to push the envelope with browser based technology. I encourage you to take a look at them and play around with the features they offer, some of it is mind blowing!

Universeries
This a site any fellow TV addicts will appreciate, creating a 3D universe to explore the connections of TV creators past and present.

Agent 008 Ball
This is essentially an advergame for IE9, but who cares, it is a very solid showcase for a canvas based game of billiards and runs very smooth.

This Shell
A promotional drag and drop game that is cooler than it sounds. Challenges you to piece together a puzzle before the time runs out, and rewards you with a free .mp3 if you win. The small slices of video on the pieces themselves create a really fun effect.

Buffalo Wild Wings Protect the Football
One of my favorite places to eat, B-dubs used to have a full Flash site, and has now updated the entire site to use HTML5 technologies. This game is the feature of that effort, and timely as well as it features an endless runner mechanic that has proven very popular over the past few years.

There are plenty more to feature in a future article, enjoy!