IBM Introduces HTML5!
An in-depth article from IBM recently introduced some of the new elements that have been introduced by Version 5 of the HTML framework.
Although this will surely be a nightmare for many of us, it is one that we welcome with open arms in light of the evolution in design that will certainly arise from such rapidly emerging technologies:
HTML 5 introduces new elements to HTML for the first time since the last millennium. New structural elements include aside, figure, and section. New inline elements include time, meter, and progress. New embedding elements include video and audio. New interactive elements include details, datagrid, and command.
Development of HTML stopped in 1999 with HTML 4. The W3C focused its efforts on changing the underlying syntax of HTML from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) to XML, as well as completely new markup languages like Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XForms, and MathML. Browser vendors focused on browser features like tabs and RSS readers. Web designers started learning CSS and the JavaScript™ language to build their own applications on top of the existing frameworks using Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax). But HTML itself grew hardly at all in the next eight years.
Structure
Even well-formed HTML pages are harder to process than they should be because of the lack of structure. You have to figure out where the section breaks go by analyzing header levels. Sidebars, footers, headers, navigation menus, main content sections, and individual stories are marked up by the catch-all div element. HTML 5 adds new elements to specifically identify each of these common constructs:
- section: A part or chapter in a book, a section in a chapter, or essentially anything that has its own heading in HTML 4
- header: The page header shown on the page; not the same as the head element
- footer: The page footer where the fine print goes; the signature in an e-mail message
- nav: A collection of links to other pages
- article: An independent entry in a blog, magazine, compendium, and so forth
Block Semantic Elements
As well as the structural elements, HTML 5 adds some purely semantic block-level elements:
- aside
- figure
- dialog
Embedded Media
Video on the Web is booming, but it’s almost all proprietary. YouTube uses Flash, Microsoft uses Windows Media®, and Apple uses QuickTime. Markup that works for embedding such content in one browser doesn’t work in the next. Consequently, the WhatWG has proposed a new video element that allows the embedding of arbitrary video formats.
Interactivity
HTML 5 also goes under the rubric of Web Applications 1.0. Toward that end, several new elements are focused on more interactive experiences for Web pages:
- details
- datagrid
- menu
- command
These elements all have the potential to change what is displayed based on user action and choice without loading a new page from the server.
Eight years is a long time to wait for new features, especially in the fast-moving world of the Web. HTML 5 restores some of the excitement of the early days when Netscape, Microsoft, and others were introducing new elements every other week. At the same time, it takes a much more careful approach to defining these elements so that everyone can use them interoperably. The future looks bright.
If you liked that article, perhaps you will also like these...?
Reader's Comments
Leave a Reply