What is this new HTML5?

HTML5 is the new proposed standard for how websites are made. While it is not official yet, many browsers and companies are already supporting it. HTML5 brings several new features to the table, and will make browsing the internet faster, easier, and more like working with a desktop program.

The main theme in HTML5 is to do more in the browser, and without plugins. Prior to now, most things being done on the web needed a plugin if it was much more complex than displaying simple text or images. Videos, games, and offline storage currently require a plugin, making the integration with the browser sloppy at best. HTML5′s new technologies remove the need for these, allowing the web to work a lot better, and enabling a new generation of applications.

New Features:

  • The Canvas: The canvas is an all-new way to display graphics on the web. Previously, web graphics had to be static, or needed to be Flash. With the canvas, images, games, or other visuals can be created on the fly, in the browser, without the need for plugins.
  • Video: HTML5 will change the way video on the web happens. Much like the canvas, the new “Video” element allows the video to be in the browser without needing a plugin, or using Adobe Flash.
  • Geolocation: Rather than needing to look up an IP adderess to guess a users location (whether for a map or an ad), HTML5 will be able to tell a users location much more accurately, allowing the next generation of location-based applications to also exist in the browser.
  • Offline: HTML5 includes a way for a website to function offline, without a plugin like Google Gears. This will make it much easier, and more useful, to use local storage, which will further increase the benefits of apps like Gmail.

For more information, Focus.com has an infographic that does a great job explaining it.

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Mitchell HislopMitchell Hislop

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  • http://www.socialmediaperformancegroup.com/index.php/blog/ Mike Ellsworth

    Great post, Mitch! Short and to the point. What does Adobe think about HTML 5? Will Steve Jobs be able to kill Flash by dropping support for Flash? What about Adobe’s Flex?

    There’s so much money invested in Flash and other plugins, I wonder how fast the industry will really embrace HTML 5.

    Thanks.
    http://bit.ly/smperformance

  • Mitchell Hislop

    Adobe is less than pleased, as one might expect. However, with HTML5 still several years from being official, I am sure that they will figure something out.

    As far as Jobs, he is doing his best to kill Flash. It may or may not work, but the important point is that Apple has taken a stand, so people who want to target those devices have to use HTML5. Not enough to kill Flash, but enough to make some noise.

    Adobe Flex is not usually seen on the web, but as applications. Most Adobe Air apps start as a Flex app, and there are Flex apps on many mobile platforms. Flex is not the main victim of HTML5, but it will take some collateral damage