For colleges and universities today, the question is no longer whether to develop a campus app or not. Instead, the debate has shifted to the best--and most cost-efficient--way to make campus applications accessible to the myriad devices and operating systems out there. Schools have a few options: They can develop multiple native app versions; they can develop an HTML5 solution that will run on the device browser; or they can plump for a hybrid of the two. Predictably, the solution is rarely simple. HTML5 is the dark horse. Its promise has been quietly whispered for years, but there is yet to be a trumpet blast heralding its triumphant arrival. Put simply, HTML5 is the fifth iteration of the HTML (hypertext markup language) standard that underlies web pages. Though HTML5 standards are still in development, web browsers already support HTML5, which includes new elements that handle multimedia and graphical content without relying on plug-ins such as Adobe Flash Player. Whether this souped-up version of HTML will have enough bells and whistles to supplant native apps is the big question, but schools will probably base their decisions on three factors: (1) performance goals; (2) development costs; and (3) maintenance expenses.