Google’s Web Designer Updated with Animation Tools and More

It’s been almost a year since Google introduced us to their HTML5 Web Designer, a free tool for all major platforms created to make it easy for any one to create interactive HTML5 sites and advertising. We’ve only seen a couple minor patches and updates since then, but now Google is ready with the first big one.

According to the DoubleClick blog, ad impressions from HTML5 grew 140% in the first half of 2014 compared to the second half of 2013. Ads build with the Web Designer have gained 2.5 Billion impressions since launch and over 20% of the user-base is said to be returning.

While the main focus of the Web Designer always has been the creation of advertising, there is nothing holding you back from using it to create anything else your imagination might spark. There are however many features that are build just for that, like the new direct integration to the DoubleClick Studio where those ads then are automatically tagged with the right account, advertiser and campaign information for publishing.

Google’s AdWords service has also switched to HTML5 now, and any Flash ads that are uploaded will be converted to HTML5 automatic. This is of course to support  HTML5 ads created in the new Web Designer.

The new animation tools are however what will get most people excited. With the new reworked animation timeline with features like animation scrubbing, timeline events and auto key-framing, it’s never been easier building HTML5 based animations. A couple new 3D features have been added as well.

Since this is Google, we’ll of course also get an integration with Google Drive to make it easier to share our Web Designer files with friends and co-workers. The text editor CodeMirror also got a direct integration now.

You can watch the video below to get a visual presentation of the updated Google Web Designer or you can just head over to Google, download it and start creating your very own HTML5 animations.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfJFf8f5eg[/youtube]

Thank you DoubleClick for providing us with this information

Image and video courtesy of Google