So it certainly seems that HTML5 is starting to take centre stage as its popularity goes from strength to strength. More and more I’m hearing of websites developed in HTML5, but is it really the future of web design? And are we ready for it?
Semantically, it’s a Winner
HTML5 is being sold mainly for its new semantic abilities, and I have to agree it’s great to see HTML move in this direction.
New tags like <header>, <section>, <article>, <aside>, <footer> are helping to standardise web pages so web apps can better integrate and interact with the page.
But HTML5 won’t be a <div> killer. <div> for the moment still has its place in the scheme of web design.
What’s Good:
HTML5 isn’t all about those new tags: supposedly it creates great improvements for web apps – and taking a lot of the things we rely upon into the browser itself, like JavaScript for date pickers or Flash for videos.
What’s Better:
For me, CSS3 trumps HTML5. As browser support improves for CSS3, we’ll be able to remove unnecessary code and classes like ‘first’, ‘last’, ‘odd’, and ‘even’ that are known to be the main cause of bloated markup. Designers are already starting to make use of text-shadow, rgba, box-shadow and border radius to improve their designs.
Summary
I really love the direction HTML5 is moving in. I’ve read about the benefits to web and app developers and the semantic side of HTML5 and it sounds really awesome, however I haven’t actually seen these benefits in action first hand…
But I have started building a personal website using the HTML5 doctype. The new tags do help standardise a websites structure, but it has also caused much confusion and controversy especially as the spec and definitions aren’t set in concrete yet.
(Keeping up with the official spec isn’t easy, but they do have a newsletter or twitter account you can signup for to receive spec updates.)
Should you start using HTML5 for your client’s new website? Probably not.
Many popular CMS’s like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla allow you to customise templates/themes so it is possible to produce quality HTML5 sites, however many of the plugins/modules used with these CMS’s don’t yet support HTML5 markup. (They will still work, but validation of your site will most likely fail). A lot of HTML editors (like Dreamweaver) don’t support HTML5 markup yet either. Update: I’ve written a short post "Adding HTML5 tags to Dreamweaver" to help guide how HTML5 can be added.
Should you start using HTML5 for your own personal websites? Yes absolutely. Test, try out and learn the next step in web development.
Tags: HTML5
