HTML 5 is just around the corner. Have you caught up yet? Whatever your answer was, it’s a double-edged sword.
Let’s start with the upsides.
New Features in HTML 5
HTML 5 is going to offer a lot of new features, like the Video tag and Canvas that are going to do a lot to push the web forward while shedding some of the difficulties of the past. I’m talking to you, Flash plugin. The Flash plugin is just one example of something that is going to approach obsolescence with HTML 5. Thanks to new tags like video and canvas, web users will no longer need to download specialized plugins to view videos and animation on the web.
Application caching is going to be another important feature that a lot of us are going to get some good use out of. While it sounds like an overly technical term, all this means is that things you view on the web that are normally dependent on an internet connection will be able to be stored on your computer to access whenever you need it. A good example is if you use a web-based email service like GMail or Yahoo! Mail. If you’re a user of these services, have you ever been somewhere without internet (like on a plane) and realized you needed to check one of your emails but couldn’t? HTML 5 will help solve that. It will be able to store things like your webmail messages so that you can see your Gmail account (minus any new mail you haven’t already viewed) regardless of whether you have an internet connection.
The last thing I’ll touch briefly on is geolocation. Geolocation is a big trend lately with more and more devices having built in GPS capabilities. Devices like the iPhone, Google Nexus One, handheld Garmin devices, and even some laptops now have some form of GPS built in. Specialized applications used to be required to make use of these GPS-enabled devices, but now HTML will be able to interface with them directly. What does this mean? In short, when you use a service like Google Maps or Mapquest, you’ll no longer need to type in your current address to get directions somewhere. The website will get your current location and find it for you without the need for special plugins or even any JavaScript.
So what’s the downside of HTML 5?
It’s going to take forever to be able to use most of these features. Why? Two reasons: browser support and stubborn users. A lot of browsers out there (read: Internet Explorer) aren’t exactly on the cutting edge of new developments. Hopefully Internet Explorer 9 will have full support for HTML 5, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox actually have some support for HTML 5 already enabled. The bottom line here, however, is that HTML 5 won’t be safe to use in-depth until all of the major browsers catch up. Based on history, you’ll probably be waiting for a few years.
The other problem is stubborn users. Hi, grandpa and grandma (I’ve been trying to get them to ditch their Windows ME PC for about 3 years – yes, this is a true story). Anyway, a lot of these users are still using old browsers like Internet Explorer 6 or – gasp – Internet Explorer 5. I’ve even seen some Netscape refugees floating the net. Here’s the harder-to-overcome problem. Internet Explorer 6 has been obsolete for a good three years now, but estimates seem to indicate that 15 – 20% of the internet is still using it. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I know! But these holdouts tend to be people who don’t rely on computers as part of their day-to-day lives as a lot of us in the under-40 crowd do. This means they don’t want to dedicate time to learning a new browser when their current browser works fine (or so they think).
Anyway, the moral of the story here is, start using HTML 5 or at least learn it. The caveat is to be careful about when and how you use it so that you don’t alienate any demographics that might be key to your website’s success. In the meantime, work on convincing your parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors that it is, in fact, worth learning a new browser. They’re the gatekeepers of true advancement in the Internet.
HTML 5 is just around the corner. Have you caught up yet? Whatever your answer was, it’s a double-edged sword.
Let’s start with the upsides.
New Features in HTML 5
HTML 5 is going to offer a lot of new features, like the Video tag and Canvas that are going to do a lot to push the web forward while shedding some of the difficulties of the past. I’m talking to you, Flash plugin. The Flash plugin is just one example of something that is going to approach obsolescence with HTML 5. Thanks to new tags like video and canvas, web users will no longer need to download specialized plugins to view videos and animation on the web.
Application caching is going to be another important feature that a lot of us are going to get some good use out of. While it sounds like an overly technical term, all this means is that things you view on the web that are normally dependent on an internet connection will be able to be stored on your computer to access whenever you need it. A good example is if you use a web-based email service like GMail or Yahoo! Mail. If you’re a user of these services, have you ever been somewhere without internet (like on a plane) and realized you needed to check one of your emails but couldn’t? HTML 5 will help solve that. It will be able to store things like your webmail messages so that you can see your Gmail account (minus any new mail you haven’t already viewed) regardless of whether you have an internet connection.
The last thing I’ll touch briefly on is geolocation. Geolocation is a big trend lately with more and more devices having built in GPS capabilities. Devices like the iPhone, Google Nexus One, handheld Garmin devices, and even some laptops now have some form of GPS built in. Specialized applications used to be required to make use of these GPS-enabled devices, but now HTML will be able to interface with them directly. What does this mean? In short, when you use a service like Google Maps or Mapquest, you’ll no longer need to type in your current address to get directions somewhere. The website will get your current location and find it for you without the need for special plugins or even any JavaScript.
So what’s the downside of HTML 5?
It’s going to take forever to be able to use most of these features. Why? Two reasons: browser support and stubborn users. A lot of browsers out there (read: Internet Explorer) aren’t exactly on the cutting edge of new developments. Hopefully Internet Explorer 9 will have full support for HTML 5, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox actually have some support for HTML 5 already enabled. The bottom line here, however, is that HTML 5 won’t be safe to use in-depth until all of the major browsers catch up. Based on history, you’ll probably be waiting for a few years.
The other problem is stubborn users. Hi, grandpa and grandma (I’ve been trying to get them to ditch their Windows ME PC for about 3 years – yes, this is a true story). Anyway, a lot of these users are still using old browsers like Internet Explorer 6 or – gasp – Internet Explorer 5. I’ve even seen some Netscape refugees floating the net. Here’s the harder-to-overcome problem. Internet Explorer 6 has been obsolete for a good three years now, but estimates seem to indicate that 15 – 20% of the internet is still using it. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I know! But these holdouts tend to be people who don’t rely on computers as part of their day-to-day lives as a lot of us in the under-40 crowd do. This means they don’t want to dedicate time to learning a new browser when their current browser works fine (or so they think).
Anyway, the moral of the story here is, start using HTML 5 or at least learn it. The caveat is to be careful about when and how you use it so that you don’t alienate any demographics that might be key to your website’s success. In the meantime, work on convincing your parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors that it is, in fact, worth learning a new browser. They’re the gatekeepers of true advancement in the Internet.
