HTML 5: A silent super hero
If you've ever used Gmail, Youtube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, an iPhone or an Android phone then you've probably used HTML5 and you wouldn't even know it, but it's there nonetheless, safeguarding us from plug-ins and other proprietary technological evils.
Just like a comic book Super Hero, great technology can appear from nowhere being faster, smarter, better looking than the rest of its peers, or sometimes it's just trying to make our lives a little easier. And like any true comic book Hero, great technologies do this without so much as a hint of ego, humbly going about their work unaccustomed to gratitude and praise. Occasionally, there is a silent technology which is deserving of a hero's welcome...enter HTML5.
The HTML 5 Buzz
The latest major revision of the web's core structural language - HTML, introduces new semantics, structure and features to the web including natively embedded audio & video (without Flash), form controls and APIs. "HTML5" - the latest web buzz-word is often used as a summary to talk about a variety of new web technologies which are not strictly part of HTML5 much to the distaste of many purists as Jeremy Keith blogs:
"Clarifying what is and isn't in HTML5 isn’t pedantry for pedantry's sake. It's about communication and clarity, the cornerstones of language."
Source: Adactio - http://adactio.com/journal/1684/
The developer in me screams "hurrah" when reading Keith's frustrated musings, but on the days when I'm feeling more mellow I can understand the use of the term as an approximation of the new web technologies, services and people who are pushing the boundaries of what can be done today and in the future on the web and web ready devices.
This next age of the web excites us greatly and in turn inspires our clients to help us create fantastic online experiences in a variety of scenarios such as User-Centric online web apps and flexible websites that can be read online, offline, on desktop, on mobile, on TV and practically anywhere.
Shiny new toys for Designers and Developers
Being part Techie, part User Experience evangelist and part wannabe-Designer, HTML5 gives me a whole of new bag of tricks to leverage when thinking about and creating web pages. We've now got access to fancy Typography with custom web fonts, instant web 2.0 bling via CSS3 rounded corners, gradients, reflections and shadows and some really cool new features like Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Canvas and even in-browser 3D (WebGL). All of these things are code-based, so they can be turned on or off, up or down, back or forward within a few keystrokes.
Google has created a great online presentation all about HTML5 – it's even written in HTML5 (mostly) and have created lots of content online to showcase their Chrome browser's talents. Apple have also provided some great "HTML5" demos which they showcase on desktop, iPhone & iPad effortlessly. Admittedly they're not entirely HTML5 based, but nice tech demos anyway.
HTML5 now!
Many sites are already using HTML5 and if you want to join the revolution and experience some of the HTML5 super-powers, you could adopt a new-generation desktop browser such as Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera. These super-fast browsers knock the socks off Internet Explorer 8 and for the most part, the new IE9 beta too.
There are some amazingly smart people working on the web today and some of the awesome work they've been doing is listed below;
Try these live demos or you can just watch the videos:
Overall, as the HTML5 family takes hold, it is going to create faster, lighter weight environments for us on the web. Now if we only had a set of devices which had these constraints to help us develop and push forward the next generation of technologies...