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On the term “HTML5”
Yesterday, Jeffrey Zeldman linked up a very cool project entitled html5test.com. It’s very well-done, and incredibly useful. You should check it out.
Today, the always-insightful Tantek Çelik responded to Jeffrey’s post, accurately noting that many of the items the so-called “HTML5 Test” was checking are not actually part of the HTML5 specification at all (for example, Microdata, Geolocation, and more.) Tantek goes on to say, “We as a community that is learning/relearning/teaching all this stuff need to vigilantly clarify what’s what rather than calling things “HTML5? that are not actually HTML5.”
I say: Why?
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Is This Really The Future of Magazines or Why Didn’t They Just Use HTML 5?
The Wired Magazine iPad app, in my opinion, is a pretty big UI and IxD win. It’s easily the best-designed magazine to come out of the App Store since the iPad’s launch, and it is, for the most part, a joy to use. But it’s built by packaging up two PNGs for each page (one landscape, one portrait), and frankly, that’s just an idiotic and incredibly inelegant way of doing it.
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Smokescreen: Flash Player in Javascript
A pretty amazing piece of work, this JS Flash player looks far more advanced than the Gordon project which floated around awhile back. It’s apparently going to be open source, as well. I’m not sure something like this will work as a long-term solution, but it may be an effective way to get many legacy SWFs to play on platforms that don’t support Flash. If nothing else, it’s a technical marvel, for sure.
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Filling in the Gaps
Props to Snook for having on of the few rational takes on Flash. Much of the web standards community act as zealots when it comes to Flash, and it is, quite frankly, an embarrassing show of just how little they really know about the entirety of web development.
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HTML5 Readiness
Very cool CSS-powered infographic by Paul Irish and Divya Manian.
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Ben Ward: Understand The Web
A pretty great piece by Ben Ward discussing “web apps,” and how much of what is being talked about aren’t really “web apps” at all, because they’re a very different beast than the “interconnected bits of information” that make up the web. I think it’s fair to say that “web app” may not be the best name for these things — although I’m not sure what to call them, instead. I’m in full agreement with most of what Ben says — but this last line just doesn’t fly with me: “The idea of undermining the core function of the web to achieve that is detestable.” I fail to see how building native-like apps using web technologies “undermines the core function of the web” at all. To me, it simply adds another function. Just as Cocoa apps aren’t part of the web, but rather tangential to it, I would say native-like apps that live in the web are also not part of the web, but tangential to it. They sit alongside it, not hurting the web one bit.
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HTML5 Geolocation with Fallback to Google Ajax API: HTML5
This looks a bit more bulletproof than the fallback I’ve done on BarStar — might have to switch to this when I get a moment.
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When can I use…
Handy chart detailing “when you can use” various advanced web development techniques.
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James Bennett: In pace requiescat
Another thoughtful piece of the demise of XHTML2.
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Jeremy Keith: Misunderstanding markup
Easily the best overview I’ve seen of XHTML, XHTML2, HTML5, and the related concerns for your typical standards-oriented front-end web developer. Bottom line: the death of XHTML2 and the move to HTML5 does not mean you lose all the things you love about XHTML 1 and 1.1. Relax, folks. It’ll be okay. :)
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Zeldman: XHTML WTF
After reading the comments on Jeffrey’s post, I’m surprised and a bit dismayed that people are shocked to hear XHTML2 is dead. It’s been dead for quite some time — just not officially so. As I’ve been saying for the past couple years, HTML5 is the way. XHTML was a nice way to get us all thinking about writing better code, and it helped the Web Standards movement by giving us something to latch onto, but it’s time to let it go, guys. Relax. It’ll be okay.
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Cartoon of me on my deathbed in .net magazine
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The WHATWG Blog: 2022
WHATWG offers a clarification about the 2022 “final” date for HTML 5:
> There has been a certain amount of controversy over the supposed date of 2022 for HTML 5 to be “finished”. It is somewhat important to realise the significance that should be attached to this date: None at all.
This, of course, begs the question, “then why mention it at all?” Who knows, but I’ve certainly been guilty of mentioning things I later wished I wouldn’t have, so I’ll give them a pass. Beyond that, this goes to show that it’s all exactly as I thought: HTML5 will indeed by “final” in 2022, but it’s really only browser support that matters to us web designers and developers. Bits and pieces of HTML5 are already showing up in browsers and more should be showing up over the next few years, so get out there and use them! Stop reading specs and fussing over dates and build some fucking web pages already.
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Two thousand twenty two
Today, it was brought to my attention that HTML 5 Editor Ian Hickson, in an August 27 interview with TechRepublic outlined a timetable for the “new” spec, which began life back in 2003. Hixie suggests HTML 5 will reach the “Proposed Recommendation” stage sometime in 2022. Go ahead, read it again. It’s not a typo. Two thousand twenty two.
I immediately stopped reading. Didn’t even bother with the rest of the interview. Why? Because it just doesn’t matter. The whole concept of web standards, which I once strongly advocated for, has now become so incredibly ridiculous as to be not even worth the time and attention of serious web designers and developers.
As I pointed out on Twitter today (much to the dismay of certain standardistas, who have previously asked me to name names instead of referring to a “shadowy cabal”): it ultimately doesn’t matter if HTML 5 is available next month, next year, or fifty years from now. Those of us who do real work in this industry know that the only thing that really matters is what specs and technologies are supported by the browsers real people use.
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IS HTML5 READY YET?
From the brilliant minds at CoffeeCup, the best single-serving website of all time.
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HTML5 to be “done” in 2022. This is not a joke.
Holy fuck. And we wonder why it’s hard to get people to take web standards seriously. The joke we’ve all been making for years just became a reality: HTML 5 will be finished in 2022. Wow. I didn’t even bother reading the rest of the interview. What’s the point? I officially no longer care about web standards.
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Apple releases Safari 3.1
The new Safari build includes several items of interest to cutting-edge web designers and developers: CSS animations, HTML 5 audio and video elements, and downloadable fonts.
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Stuart Langridge: Reigniting the browser wars
Stuart responded to the same Alex Russell piece I did, only less positively. Stuart makes good counter-arguments to many of Alex’s points. Alex then shows up in the comments and the two politely debate back and forth — it’s a really great discussion. The conclusion? Stuart seems to be coming around to many of Alex’s ideas.
It’s tough to talk openly in this community about things that aren’t “compliant.” The second you mention trying something outside of the standards world, you get clubbed with the giant Internet stick, even if you’re a standards advocate 95% of the time. I’m glad people are starting to talk openly about what’s really important — innovation and moving forward — rather than just about how we can all fall in line and be compliant* all the damn time.
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A List Apart: A Preview of HTML 5
Lachlan Hunt has a nice introduction to HTML 5 over at ALA. At this point, I’m pretty much convinced that HTML 5 is the future of our medium (not XHTML). If you’re not up on the latest good, give this article a read.
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New elements in HTML 5
Sometime, probably around July of 2017, we’ll be able to use all this cool stuff. I’m really looking forward to it.
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Jeff Croft
I’m a digital product designer and developer in Seattle, WA. I currently work with nGen Works, and recently co-founded Lendle, a Kindle book sharing service.
Some of my clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Copious, The New York Review of Books, The Lawrence Journal-World, and the University of Washington.
I’ve authored two books on web and interactive design and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world.
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