Information technology professionals have seen this before.

#1: Which browser?

One thing to keep in mind when considering a switch is: What kind of browser do most viewers of your website use? “Different browsers have the option to implement all or part of the specification,” said Erin Rollenhagen, president of Entrepreneurial Technologies LLC. “As of now, no browser implements it fully, and there’s discrepancy among the different browsers as to how much they support it.” That makes it important to decide what features your business would most benefit from by using HTML5, what browsers best support those features and if the majority of your website visitors use those browsers. Also important to note, said Jeff Anker, art director at Spindustry, is that many older browser versions don’t support HTML5 functionality, but usually there are “workaround” programs.

#2: Replacing Flash

An important thing to remember is that, in many ways, HTML5 is expected to replace Adobe Flash Player. Flash is a plug-in software for viewing multimedia content that must be downloaded to a computer or device. Many features of HTML5, especially what is known as the canvas tag, will be built in to replace the necessity for Flash. Apple Inc.’s late founder Steve Jobs took a hard line against Flash when he announced that iPhones and iPads wouldn’t support it. The next version of Google Inc.’s Android operating system also won’t support Flash. Flash, though it is a good technology, can get clunky, Rollenhagen said. If your company’s website is heavy on using Flash, she said, it might be time to consider updating your site.

#3: SEO

Using HTML5 standards should help with your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), said Cary Coppola, co-founder and CEO of Blue Compass Interactive LLC, and Jared Christensen, front-end Web developer at the company. A couple of reasons for that: New tags in HTML5 will help developers better organize the Web content, and the amount of code necessary to build into the site will be reduced. Those things will help Google search the site’s content faster, and the website will load more quickly. That should be in the forefront of people’s minds, Coppola said. “It’s all around the user experience, and with (HTML5) bettering the user experience, it helps SEO as well,” he said. “SEO has become way more intelligent, but it’s using a way more personalized approach rather than just some metrics that you can follow and have a successful campaign. If the user is having a positive experience, then SEO is going to find that positive as well.”

#4: Multi-platform

HTML5 is supported by all smartphone operating systems, Christensen said, which allows Web developers to make sites work on multiple platforms without having to write the code separately. “That saves time and money,” he said It also allows for more consistency across platforms, said Anker at Spindustry. Adds Rollenhagen, mobile websites will work without upgrading to HTML5 standards, so businesses shouldn’t panic if their mobile presence doesn’t use HTML5. But if they are looking to update their mobile site, it makes sense to switch over.

#5: Is now the time?

Experts by and large say that redesigning your website just to upgrade to HTML5 isn’t the right thing to do. But if you are redesigning the site for other reasons, it should be done in HTML5 or at least use elements of HTML5. Blue Compass made HTML5 its new standard about a year ago. Coppola was impressed when he noticed that Iowa State University’s new website used HTML5, and decided at that time that it was time for Blue Compass to make it a priority. It especially makes sense if your site is designed to bring in a lot of visitors, he said. Spindustry will sometimes recommend only certain features of HTML5 get implemented in a website redesign. “You really just have to take it on a case-by-case basis, and you can do it on different levels,” Anker said. “You can just take baby steps.”