About Kaidez

What is HTML5 and what is the HTML5 Project?

A little background first in case you’re reading this and are not a tech person…

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the primary web programming code language used to build web pages on a website. Simply put, every website has at least some HTML in it.

In the most general sense, text, images, videos and other elements are displayed on web pages by using HTML in one of the following three methods:

The first method (HTML along with CSS) is widely considered to be the best method.

HTML has been stuck in version 4 for years now and there was a push in the web developer community to use a more robust type of HTML called eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML). But XHTML is now being pushed aside in favor of a radically new update to the old HTML code, the not-so-radically named HTML5.

HTML5 is still being developed as of this writing and promises to extend HTML’s current functionality far beyond displaying elements on a webpage. The ability for web designers and developers to create animation, add videos in an easier way, use website databases and implement very neat drag-and-drop features are just few of the promises HTML5 is making.

An organization called the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) is the primary developer of HTML5. Another organization called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) constantly reviews WHATWG’s work, making sure that WHATWG develops HTML5 according to certain standards.

The W3C suggests that no one use HTML5 until they’ve fully approved it. Ian Hickson (the primary HTML5 developer) says that he does not expect HTML5 to receive full W3C approval until 2022 2014.
Update: the W3C moved the date to 2014…read their announcement.

But the W3C is just making a suggestion. And I, along with many others, believe that web designers and developers will not wait until 2022 and begin to use at least small parts of HTML5 immediately for the following reasons:

  • early adopter-type developers (and there are many) traditionally use new web technologies right away, regardless of where these technologies stand in the W3C’s approval cycle.
  • knowing all forms of HTML is key for any web designer/developer that wants a web design/development job, so many will rush to learn the new version.
  • while HTML5 is more difficult than previous versions of HTML, it’s not that much more difficult.
  • with careful planning, it’s possible to use some of HTML5′s features right now.
  • small-scale smart phone apps can be created in HTML5.

For all the reasons listed above, I’ve given myself a goal of learning enough HTML5 so I can actively use it both inside and outside of my day job. In order to achieve this goal, I’ve devised an HTML project for myself: to develop a website where HTML5 is the primary building block. HTML5 is changing everyday and so my goal may change as well, but this is my plan right now: watch this space for such changes.

If there’s anything else that you think I should be doing (or you think that I should be doing something else), please let me know.