What is HTML5 ?

HTML5 is not just the future of web design, it's the present.

Everything that makes the web sing.

HMTL5 is not a single thing or a monolithic technology. It is a collection of features, technologies, and APIs that brings the power of the desktop and the vibrancy of multimedia experience to the web—while amplifying the web’s core strengths of interactivity and connectivity.

HTML5 includes the fifth revision of the HTML markup language, CSS3, and a series of JavaScript APIs. Together, these technologies enable you to create complex applications that previously could be created only for desktop platforms.

The first web browser, Mosaic, was introduced in 1993. A year later Netscape, based on Mosaic, was introduced and the net began to become popular. HTMLwas used in both browsers, but there was no "standard" HTML until the introduction of HTML 2.0.

HTML 2.0 was first published in 1995.* HTML 3.0 was published two years later and 4.01 two years after that. HTML 4.01 has been the work horse of the net ever since.

The first "working draft" of HTML5 came out in January of 2008 and it already has surprisingly broad browser support. However HTML5 is not yet fully implemented and won't be for some years yet. There are any number of planning committees that have plans to make it a "Recommendation", but such plans are still in the planning phase – and don't plan on that changing anytime soon. **

Fundamental changes are coming with the development of APIs that will run in HTML5 – exciting and powerful new tools that will take the internet places we can't begin to imagine. Also new elements such as the <header>,<nav> and <article> have been introduced which will help search engines analyze web pages better.

The internet will absorb television the way it has telephone technology. Now if you want to add video to your page you either have to add a complicated script to your page, embed a YouTube video or have to open it in a separate application such as Windows Media Player. The former is not easy and the latter two lack professional polish. HTML5's new <video> tag will solve that problem.

Reference:

• HTML5 Readiness
  Visual timeline of HTML5 feature support.
• When Can I Use...
  Up to date HTML5 feature browser support reference.
• HTML5 Test
  Series of browser tests to evaluate feature support.
• Chrome Implementation Status
  Follow the engineering effort for cutting edge support from the Chrome team.
• Web specifications support in Opera Presto 2.10
  Opera's support for HTML5 standards
• HTML5: Comparison of Layout Engines
  If the Wikipedia says it then it must be true.
• ECMAScript 5 table
  Detailed table of ES5 support across browsers.
• Compatibility Tables
  Results of DOM and CSS properties tests in major browsers.
• HTML5 Demos
  html5demos.com is a demo site with cross-browser demos.
• HTML5-Demos
  html5-demos.com is another demo site with cutting-edge demos and slide decks.
• Field Guide to Web Applications
  A guide to help developers build great web applications.