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.
18 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!