What Is All the Buzz About HTML5?

Advertising trade pubs, especially in B2B marketing reports, love to get excited about technology buzzwords. The current hot word being asked for is HTML5. I want to take an opportunity to review what HTML5 means. I hope to describe what it can do now, and why everyone is so excited. I also want to temper that excitement with a quick look at what isn't quite ready yet.

HTML - A Very Brief History

The first version of HTML has been around since late 1991. It was a simple way of displaying text on a page.

In 1993 HTML 2.0 arrived, which was a major update and looked a lot like today's HTML code. It just has fewer bells and whistles that we recognize today. It was a strong enough version to last until 1997.

HTML itself really hasn't changed much since then. Other standards were written: HTML+, HTML 3.0 and even HTML 4.0 established new features over the basics. But the next major standard of Web construction  was the combination of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0. XHTML adhered to more proper code formatting. Its purpose was to make page code more reliable so that would work dependably in future versions.

The bones of what HTML is and does not change much. Extra "stuff" like tools, construction methods and features have been added to make websites more pleasant to create and use. The addition of CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is an example of one addition which made styling Web pages more efficient.

More Powerful Programming Options

A few years ago, sites could add small Java programs called “applets” which ran in a small window in the browser and added special capabilities to Web pages like drawing mathematical diagrams and playing small videos. Javascript, not related to Java, Shockwave and Flash added more new features. They helped make pages "smart" by adding effects and handling of data in the browser. This enabled games, eye candy for sites, and live updating of site content (like we see in our online email and map tools.) These tools and others derived from them, like Microsoft's Silverlight, made Web experiences fun and more immersive. Videos could be any size and apparently any shape. Compression methods and interactivity improvements made online more efficient and responsive.

Javascript has grown more powerful and much of its capability is ubiquitous across all the major browsers. Macromedia (and later Adobe) made Flash grow much more powerful and almost 100% ubiquitous. Developers were able to make sites that did cool things and it could be depended upon to work in at least 97% of the browsers. Most of your site's visitors could view and enjoy the experience you provide.

The most influential feature that has grown out of these Web technology is that of Flash streaming video. This made the computer a rival to the television as a source of entertainment. Flash isn't the only player. Microsoft has its Silverlight platform and there are several other avenues. But Flash has been the leader for online video by providing the best balance of file size, processor load and image quality.

A New Player Enters the Game

Smart phones beginning with the Blackberry phones enabled their owners to receive and respond to email when they were away from their computers. Then phones' capabilities grew closer to those of full computers. Apple's iPhones and iPads and the array of smart phones featuring the Android operating system come close to replacing traditional desktop computers and even laptops completely! These mobile devices or handsets are much greater than simple cell phones. They have small, powerful processors, touchscreens and full keyboards (some physical, others onscreen) for a variety of input and uses. The number of people using these devices is exploding.

However, as of this writing, almost no phones support Flash. Steve Jobs tried to declare that Flash would never be on the Apple mobile devices. This issue is often in the news and the Flash support story is changing daily. Android's latest version as of this writing (Froyo v. 2.2) can support Flash and is steadily infiltrating the market. We'll see how long Steve Jobs allows his products to fall behind the rest of the market by not supporting Flash.

So What Does This Have to Do With HTML5?

With all that background, I'm finally able to state that HTML5 is adding video support right into the browser. There are other effects and tools being added too, like animation and game programming capability. But it is my opinion that is the primary reason for the buzz. HTML5 video may become the new standard for delivering video over the Internet to both personal computers and mobile devices.

There are demonstrations and discussions on the Web. YouTube has its tests in progress. But the main obstacle is that a leading format has not been established. There is no clear winner yet. Each browser and device supports a different compression scheme. As of this writing, not one is supported across all the browsers/devices.

When creating content using Flash video, you prepare the video once and 97% of viewers can watch it without any problem. Additional code can even smooth out issues with another 2%. But with HTML5 you'd have to export at least three different formats and provide code which tests for all so that it plays the right one. Mobile platforms are also divided.

HTML5 is coming. Some people say that it will be a Flash killer. I seriously doubt that will happen in the next decade. The best Flash developers are a versatile bunch. Any Flash programmer should know how to build an animation both on the time-line and also through programmatic (code-only) methods. Tools, like the popular and excellent JQuery package of Javascript tools, can build animated content and effects which resemble Flash. The transition is in progress. Flash programmers who work to maintain career relevance know this.

Mobile devices are the main reason for the excitement and push in this direction. Is it ready for the mainstream yet? No. But it is coming.

There is an excellent interactive chart which displays the support for various features of HTML5 in computer browsers. You can see how the support has grown from 2008, 2009 and this current year 2010.