It used to be that if you wanted to create an animated, interactive interface for a website, you needed to use Flash. You might be able to get away with some basic animations using JavaScript, but if you made it too complicated, all you’d end up doing is bogging your visitor’s computer down and causing problems.

Plus, JavaScript was potentially more complicated to use than Flash, at least for those who aren’t fond of coding. But, of course, Flash doesn’t always work well (or sometimes not at all) on mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad.

Enter HTML5. HTML5 works on just about every mobile platform out there. Anything you could create in Flash can be created with HTML5 (and sometimes added JavaScript and CSS3): animations, interactive elements, and more.

But it reintroduces the coding issue for a lot of designers, who might not be crazy about hand-coding everything. That’s where Adobe Edge comes in.

Adobe Edge is an entirely new program (currently available as a free preview version) that helps you create animated web content using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It includes drawing and text tools for creating new compositions, lets you import images in a variety of formats (SVG, PNG, JPG and GIF), and choreograph animation with a timeline-based editor. You can animate position, color, shape, size, rotation and other elements at the property level.

The great thing about using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript rather than Flash for your animated and interactive content is that your site remains standards-compliant. Adobe Edge preserves your CSS layout and keeps your content layer separate from your presentation layer. Because of this, your site will be compatible across a wider range of platforms and will be more search engine friendly with less work.

Because Adobe Edge is currently only in preview-stage, it’s bound to have some bugs and feature limitations. With that said, it already includes twenty five built-in easing effects, and other features to get you started. No word on how much Edge will cost after the 150 day trial period ends.

The Edge interface looks similar to many of Adobe’s other programs for working with interactive content, like Premiere Pro or Flash. If you’re already familiar with these programs, the Edge interface should be pretty easy to adjust to. If not, there’s going to be a definite learning curve, but it’s still a relatively easy interface to figure out.

You might find Flash easier to use for more immersive interactions and animations where mobile-compatibility isn’t an issue. But Adobe Edge gives designers familiar with the Adobe work environment a new option for creating interactive and animated content.  This is the EDGE of something big!

Tags: 150 trial, Actionscript, Adobe Edge, Adobe Flash, Adobe Products, Animated, animated interfaces, Animations, AS2, AS3, basic animation, coding, Computer Programming, CSS3, designers, Flash animation, GIF, HTML5, immersive interactions, interactive website design, Javascript, JPG, PNG, Premiere Pro, programming, site, SVG, The Edge Preview