HTML5 and CSS3
May24 2010
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the language of the web. Almost everything you see on the web today is made up of some iteration of HTML, and more often than not CSS. Think of HTML as the foundation of a site, as it contains all of your content and structure. CSS, on the other hand, acts as the designer that drops things on top of that foundation and tells them how to look and behave in terms of design. Knowing that these two pieces drive the web, new iterations of said pieces are a pretty big deal, even for you non-nerds out there. Why you ask? Good question, read on.
Coming Soon: HTML5 and CSS3
Both HTML 5 and CSS3 will coexist, and at some point supplant their predecessors. From a developer’s perspective, there are all sorts of awesome things that await us. The question is - when can we jump in and start using these new tools? It’s not an easy question to answer. Although both HTML5 and CSS3 are backwards compatible, not all browsers support all of their new functions. That means not all of your audience is going to be able to reap the benefits, especially the 25-30% of those that are not on modern web browsers. However, the best way to move modern browser adaption forward is to implement solutions that require a site’s visitors to upgrade to reap the benefits. It’s a classic case of “catch 22.” (Sidenote: Seriously, how hard is it to download and install a modern web browser people? Just click download and then install. It’s genius.)
Put simply: way cooler stuff made way easier. (Just make sure you have a modern web browser!)
Why All the Fuss? (Apple vs. Adobe for one)
To be fair, HTML5 is draft stage, which goes the same for CSS3 (draft stage) meaning its official specifications are subject to change. Even so, the specification will brings a ton of improvements and standardizations our way, most of which will center on making the use of multimedia (video and audio) embedded in web sites more seamless.
Along these lines, you may have heard about the recent, ummm, pleasantries being exchanged between Apple and Adobe regarding the former’s exclusion of Flash from the increasingly ubiquitous iPhone’s web browser. Apple basically said it wouldn’t support Flash because it wasn’t an open technology, it drained battery life and was about as efficient as a fat kid running with a refrigerator on their back (Oh snap! Them’s fightin’ words!) Apple’s basic conclusion is the future of the web is HTML5, so why continue to support the way things were done (out of need) in the past? (Sidenote: this, essentially, will mean the death of Flash as a omnipresent 3rd party plugin as we know it today.)
The basis of what HTML5 + CSS3 is going to offer is a a standard way to do things / create advanced web sites and applications without having to rely on 3rd party plugins. Put simply: way cooler stuff made way easier.
HTML5, CSS3 and You
How can you be sure you’ll be able to take advantage of these new tools? It’s pretty simple really. Regardless of your operating system, all you really need is a modern web browser. The latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera all qualify, and you can check out individual browser readiness if you want to see the details of which elements are supported by which browsers. (Sidenote: Wow, you checked that link out? Nerd alert!)
