Learn HTML 5
HTML is essentially how people communicate and acknowledge each other on the World Wide Web as it is the core markup language. The latest version of Hypertext Markup Language, HTML5, has recently been launched with new features and elements to boast about. Here is some information to help you learn HTML 5.
HTML5 is the proposed next standard for HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and DOM Level 2 HTML. Its goal is to reduce the need for proprietary RIA technologies, which include the likes of Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and Sun JavaFX.
The ideas for the revised HTML began all the way back in 2004 by the WHATWG and are just now making way. Although parts of the revision have been completed and are ready for use, it is an ongoing work that is expected to continue for many years to come.
It certainly features a number of new elements and attributes that will assist modern web sites. Some of the basic elements that have been added include semantic replacements for common uses of generic block and inline elements. Other elements will work with standardized interface like <audio> and <video> elements.
As you learn HTML 5, you will find there are some elements that have been dropped from HTML 4.01. One such feature is the presentational elements of <font> and <centers> which are now achieved using CSS.
27 Responses
2.26.2010
“Its goal is to reduce the need for proprietary RIA technologies” – that as a goal is not good enough! Why try to replace proprietary technologies? Flash, Flex,and JavaFX are VERY good. Ever tried programming in them? It’s a breeze. Flex is also open source. But just because something “isn’t” open source, is not a good enough reason to develop a replacement, it just leads to more inferior technologies consuming people’s time.
3.6.2010
The goal is to replace proprietary technologies, because they are proprietary. Once upon a time you could craft a very functional web site with notepad. Why be forced to download some fat piece of proprietary code, frequently contaminated with some threatening code bits, when you can achive much of that functionality through native means at a small percentage of the bandwidth and processing horsepower. You still have to wrap that flashy proprietary app in html of some sort if thats your choice why not use it to its complete ability?
3.17.2010
The thing is, you should also consider that RIA technologies require third-party software (Flash, Silverlight, Java, etc), while HTML 5 would be rendered directly by the browser, which would also ease compatibility between web applications and reduce load times for applications. That’s implied when they say “reduce the need for proprietary RIA technologies”.
3.19.2010
I think there is the posibility to stay with html strict or if you use html strict there is no real need to switch to html 5,(correct me if i`m wrong ) but why not use html 5 and get familiar with.
4.6.2010
Basic about let say “Flash” : it is very good tool but swf files are heavy for computers. That type of technology is offering many possibilities but there is a price. HTML 5 for me is not a war against other standarts in internet technologies. Rather some fresh blood and a try to make some new standarts for better and faster net surfing.
Agree with Niche.
5.6.2010
Creative people love Flash because it is intuitive to work with. There is flexibility, and one can see what they are doing as they design movement. Very crucial for many types of animation. There is the robust action script language that allows for very detailed and interesting tweaks to the design. It allows for fast downloads of said designers creations. Not everybody codes. Flash is a part of the ecosystem right now, and should be.
Not every type of business can afford to go the Open Source route. That’s the best for me and my clients, but not for people with other jobs in and around Adobe. And by the way, I hear Adobe being ranked top of companies to work for all the time. So why shouldn’t they be able to make money off the internet? You can.
With HTML5, you definitely get search engine crawl capability. But you do lack the nuance of animation capabilities that you get with Flash.
As far as being a resource hog, if it’s made for a desktop, then it’s made for a desktop. If you want it on a phone, it needs to be designed for that.
5.10.2010
I still don’t get why people seem to think Flash is such a bandwidth hog. I view sites that are heavy with Flash all the time and it never bothered my computer one bit. I think this is more of a philosophical war that all content must be open source. Poppycock. If Adobe makes good software, then I’m willing and ready to use it. It does so much so easily. I can’t imagine trying to duplicate this in HTML5. It would probably be a coding nightmare not to mention no interface for drawing screen objects easily. I do not like to draw with code. They say that Flash is full of security bugs too, but that never stopped anyone from using Windows, did it? I say let Adobe plug the holes and lets just keep using what we have. Add some tags that make sense like the video tags and such, but don’t create a whole new system just to circumvent proprietary apps.
5.12.2010
No one seems to be mentioning the consistency you get across browsers
using flash and silverlight. does anyone remember how
every browser manufacturer seems to adopt these “standards” at different
rates and levels, forcing us to do 4 times the work? If there
were truly a “standard”, I’d be in support of it. But at the end of the day
your users want a seamless experience and don’t care that you’re on an
open source high-horse. EVERYTHING is proprietary to some degree,
including Apple’s technology (which yes, is built on open source
but by no means non-proprietary). And guys, please, enough with
parroting Jobs’ observations on Flash: it’s been in use for well over a decade and
kept many of us well fed for years. Every technology has it’s flaws, it’s a fact of life.
5.12.2010
Everybody knows that Flash is the biggest security risk on the web today.
If you do not believe me, Google for Flash vulnerability or Flash injection or Flash exploits or… maybe just Adobe Security Risk… all their prducts consists of major holes in security.
Why do I as a user, have be relying on Adobe, to make security updates? If it is the responsibility of the browser vendor instead, I have the possibility to look for the most secure browser instead and stick with that. Besides Flash is nothing but ads. I have always turned Flash off for everything but Youtube. It is very easy to do in Opera. Makes the pages way faster to load also.
5.13.2010
Open up a browser try to view content. “You require plugin. please visit this link”
Please register or give us your info to download this plugin.
Click the allow at the top of your browser to use this activeX
Please wait
Please install
Please close browser and restart it
Oh that plugin doesnt work for my other browser(s) they have different plug ins.
Repeat
Html5 Open up a browser “nice content..”
It is not meant to replace, the people who still want to use the RIA Technologies still can.
Don’t hate… Change is good, else we’d still be in horse pulled wagons.
5.16.2010
It’s not meant to be a replacement for Flash. I doubt Flash is going away any time soon. This just means if you’re a dude who wants to post a video, you don’t need to go through headache of finding a way to encode your video to .flv, checking for Flash on the client, loading a player, etc. You can just type,
Some of you sound worried that Adobe now has a bigger business motive to improve Flash.
Celebrate already.
5.17.2010
As I see it, no one is talking about pushing Flash out of the scene entirely. What we are discussing is a general succession of technologies. Macromedia Flash may have become a great money-maker for Adobe, and no one is suggesting that it shouldn’t be allowed to be. HTML needs to be upgraded in order to more fundamentally support the functions that we are now using the internet for, as opposed to continuing as an awkward patchwork of random proprietary systems that need to be downloaded for access to different sites.
To openmic – This is being done as a cohesive shift in the standard, not as an “inferior technolog[y] consuming people’s time.” Those attacking this; have you forgotten the era before 1 standardized system, when some pages were written in HTML, and others in Netscape? This is why having an open system function as the standard is critical; for the simplification of people’s lives, and fair and equitable access to information. If you want something else, build a system, close it, and charge people for access to it.
5.17.2010
I agree with franz. There’s no way that Flash will be entierely pushed off the internet. The thing is, most mobile devices, especially Apple, have almost no support for Flash. And if they do, it’s at the point where it is almost unusable. With HTML5, embeding audio and video will be a breeze for mobiles. Though HTML5 will never be able to live up to the standards of what RIA technologies can do, it’ll definetely cover most of them.
6.6.2010
I think that HTML5 will kill flash because:
1) You don’t have to pay 700$ on an IDE to develop HTML5, all you need is a web browser and a text editor.
2) You don’t need to get any plugin to use HTML5, it just works out of the box.
3) HTML5 doesn’t have the security holes that Flash does.
6.13.2010
I work with HTML and Flash and am pleased about HTML 5; its about time we started thinking about how to make modern content easier to deliver without having to rely on proprietary technologies for simple stuff.
What this essentially means is that Flash will further move into more advanced fields. HTML 5 cannot and will not ever be a total (or even major) substitute for RIA technologies like Flash and there are a number of reasons for this.
1. HTML 5 can’t offer the precise animation control used by artists creating animated experiences (thinking about interactive advertising and the likes). Flash provides a good authoring environment for these things and will remain for that purpose, as it should.
2. HTML 5 can’t deliver high end client side applications (AJAX goes some way to solving this, but still Flash is and will remain more powerful in general). Also, some of the more powerful client side stuff mixes the two.
3. Open code isn’t always good, sometime it needs to be closed; Flash solves this.
4. And then we get onto Flash Media Server; which is what I think Adobes “flagship” product will be in the future and where I think Flash (and Silverlight) will essentially find their niche; for high end interactive and broadcasting products.
As its panning out, HTML 5 is going to tidy up markup some more and the biggy is going to be in how HTML 5 will allow; as others have said, for video and audio content posting more easilly and AJAX (and whatever else that comes up in the future) allow for animated UI components.
They dont allow however for animated websites and I’m strugglin to see how HTML 5 is going to support high end video content delivery and DRM. As Flash supports H.264… I’m unsure how this will work.
Here are some issues I have with the new video tag though:
1. Isn’t it a security risk in itself to have this functionality as viruses can be hidden in video.
2. When we have user contributed videos under HTML5 video; point #1 will become a problem (virus checking on the server).
3. How will DRM be handled with HTML5 Video?
– Flash goes a long way to solve these problems.
6.15.2010
When I first “found” Flash back in 02, I was amazed at the cool things inventive developers and designers were making and doing. Happily, I was able to make Flash development part of my career, and have had a wonderful time with it. As the capabilities of the platform develops, and as robust third party APIs continue to flourish – the waters only deepen. And – I am really excited about continuing advances of the technology and it’s reach into a wider variety of devices and platforms…
That being said, I am all for new technologies. The potentials of HTML5/CSS3 and the webGL standard (for example) opens up new territories of exploration and creativity. This can only be good for developers and for the consumers of information.
In the same way that I now turn to jquery for basic animations and effects, I’m sure the new markup standards will become an essential part of my toolset. Not having to rely on plugins is great when it makes sense. When it doesn’t – I’ll use the flash platform to bring my ideas to life. And… its actually as simple as that.
Flash has helped make the web what it is today (turds and all) – and that can’t be ignored. But I am certainly looking forward to whatever new technologies emerge, as well.
6.20.2010
HTML 5 goes a long way towatrd making the WWW what is was in Tim Berners-Lee’s original vision; Open, free and for everyone!
Proprietary software and plugins and support are always going to have a corporate interest behind it. This has been great for Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, etc, but nothing has moved the Internet forward like User-Generated Content.
People are what make the web, not companies or even the technologies. This will give everyone more choice, not just the choice of those with the budget to advertise across the globe to gullible iConsumers and even more gullible businesses.
If HTML 5 is a standards-compliant and interoperable as promised, then this is the future and programmers will need to step up or step off.
Frankly, why pay thousands for an Adobe ActionScript course, or pay hundreds for an Apple Developer license, or thousands for Microsoft’s .NET software when the real power is back in Notepad. Meaning the real power is in the hands of creative programmers, not code-heads or Flash gurus, but a new breed which incorporates the best of everything and everyone.
7.7.2010
I’m excited about HTML 5 and CSS3. As a primary HTML/CSS developer, I am always thrilled with the capabilities of CSS.
Nothing is going to replace Flash because it’s an industry standard! Even the $700.00 that people shell out…people are still going to buy it and use it. It’s possibilities are endless really!
9.11.2010
HTML 5 is better than Flash because it respects accessibility a lot more than Adobe Flash. If a blind user uses the VoiceOver screen reader on Mac OS 10, there is no way to access flash content. If there is some live webcast that a blind person wants/needs to listen to, there is no way they can hit the play button on the Flash player to play the content. If HTML 5 is used, a blind person can press the play button just like any other button on a web page. In a civilized society, people with disabilities need to have the same amount of access to information as a non-disabled person. In short, unless Adobe makes flash fully accessible, it needs to be squashed like a bug and replaced with HTML 5 or another accessible standard.
9.16.2010
I’ve been using xhtml strict and css2 for the last couple of years. In this short timespace I was able to see that each browser has its own way of rendering the content. Specially when it comes to Microsoft Browsers…
I have never tried flash, because I can’t afford it. But, if I could, I would really give it a try over HTML5, because I think choosing HTML5 (which isn’t even in its final version yet) to develop content for a website with major effect will give you, at least, 10 times the work you would be doing to develop the same thing with flash.
No matter what you do, flash will allways be displayed equally to all the users, in any supported browser and operating system. I’m 99,9% sure that this won’t happen at all when you create something with major animations using HTML5. You will find out the stuff you created isn’t being displayed equally on all major browsers. Just like if it were HTML4…
I do want to see HTML5 as a standard. I do want to see it supported in every single browser available. But, as long as people use the older browsers (ie: Internet Explorer 6, 7 and more recently, 8) I will have to pick the great strict xhtml and css2.
10.29.2010
Besides the arguments for non-proprietary software and efficiency, you have to consider that many people around the world cannot afford adobe licenses or other proprietary licenses and are going to have to utilize the HTML5 functionality. I believe that web content generated from low-income developers will increase steeply and that is going to drive up the use of HTML5 and motivate all browsers to be fully compatible/optimized for it. Especially with technologies like Processing.js (www.processingjs.org) being developed it will become easier to add graphics to HTML5 web pages without proprietary software. On the other hand, companies that produce good software should be able to profit from it because everyone has to make a living. I hope that Adobe continues to innovate and set the standard so that they can stay viable.
11.23.2010
Has anyone considered the importance of advertising in this whole HTML5 vs Flash debate? One of the main reasons that most internet content is free is because people/companies are willing to pay vast sums of money to have their banner ads and rich media content displayed all over the place on other people’s sites, and that whole industry is still massively reliant on Flash. Unless it’s possible to build similar content in HTML5 with the same speed and flexibility that you can in Flash, and with the same number of (relatively) cheap designers available to actually work on them (and I mean designers, not coders), then I just can’t see it being a viable alternative. I make these ads for a living, and I can tell you the turnaround times are really tight, and the creative is subject to any number of changes all the way through the build – they’re really not the sort of things you can ever apply a rigid, well-thought-out structure to.
I also think there’d be issues with actually serving the ads in HTML5. At the moment it’s all done through third party platforms like DoubleClick, EyeBlaster, DART, etc, with the Flash files being hosted in a central location and then ‘served’ to a target area on a particular site, but would HTML5 work in the same way? Or would it have to be hard-coded directly into the web page it was being displayed on?
Don’t get me wrong – I can definitely see the advantage of HTML5 for a lot of web content going forward (particularly on mobile devices), but I just can’t see it taking Flash’s crown in the world of web advertising – the people/companies who actually pay for the ads love fast and they love cheap above everything else, and that’s still Flash…
12.21.2010
HTML 5 is not a Flash replacement, rather a free and easy way to display video on a webpage. For me, I’m not a big fan of proprietary software that requires you to upgrade and exhaust resources. However, what Flash is capable of is amazing when used correctly. My son plays many educational Flash games online and they are fantastic.
Flash certainly has it’s place in the www, however, it should not be required to play video on a webpage. That’s the browser’s job.
2.26.2011
openMic
Flash is a pig. Is that a good enough reason? I love programming in flash as much as the next guy.. but from a user’s standpoint, flash is not ideal.
I can’t speak for flex since i haven’t really gotten into it but i hear it’s good.
3.18.2011
html 5 will make the web open source.
11.9.2011
Adobe has just announced they are stopping development of Flash for Mobile… hmmm… didn’t see that coming! [/sarcasm]
They are putting more resources into HTML5 tools/etc….
The future is HTML 5… Steve Jobs RIP.
6.13.2012
Even though this thread is now a few years old, it still made me laugh hard. You HTML5 sheep really sound like fools. Many simpleton assertions like “You don’t need to get any plugin to use HTML5, it just works out of the box”. I’m sure that is a non-stop laugh riot for people who are in the unfortunate situation of having to develop primitive “solutions” in HTML5 because their employer drank the anti-Flash Kool-aid. Here we are in 2012 and HTML5 remains an unfinished spec, with the major browsers typically supporting this said ‘standard’ in non-standard ways. History repeats itself. Nothing has changed folks, if you have been a web developer for the past 15 years, then you know what I am saying here. Not to mention things like webgl not being supported on mobile safari. You think that is an accident? Please, the major players here want to be the toll collectors(think app stores), that is why they are pimping HTML5 (and trying to kill Flash), since that will keep the content in the web browsers limited. Why? And you all bought into it under the guise of the “open web”……..