When word got out last week that the <time> element would be dropped from the HTML5 specification, there was a small but fierce uproar within the Web standards and developer communities. "I think this is a bad decision," wrote Bruce Lawson, Web Evangelist at Opera. Web designer and co-founder of the Web Standards Project Jeffrey Zeldman linked to Lawson's post, sparking more than a few dissatisfied comments from readers.
A week later, the W3C has overridden the decision, restoring the <time> element back to the HTML5 spec.
In its ongoing quest to help publishers and designers adapt print-style layouts to the Web across devices, Adobe has admittedly run into a few limitations. As powerful as HTML and CSS are, they don't yet offer the means to create layouts with unlimited flexibility like print designers can.
Not content to settle for what's possible, Adobe has recommended some specifications to the W3C that will allow CSS to create much more fluid, flexible layouts.
We have been waiting most of the year to hear news from Facebook about an HTML5-based Web app store that would circumvent the native application ecosystems of the Android Market and the Apple App Store. Yet, according to Facebook's CTO, there is not going to be a central repository of HTML5 Web apps coming to the platform any time soon.
In the meantime, a Brazilian company called Movile has launched a new version of its Web app store, Zeewe 2.0, which incorporates some key HTML5 features and could provide a roadmap for U.S. developers, like Facebook, in creation of a Web app store.
HTML5 is the next version of the Web's markup language and is enjoying increasing popularity amongst the developer community. The level of interactivity it enables has probably been the most talked about feature of HTML5, largely due to Apple's controversial refusal to allow Adobe's Flash technology onto its mobile devices. As a result, HTML5 is seen as the best way to get interactivity into mobile browsers. The other big benefit of HTML5 though is that it enables developers to build cross-platform websites. One website that will work just as well across devices - whether PC, smartphone, tablet or another of the increasing array of Internet-connected devices on which people consume media.
It's for the cross-platform utility that magazine publisher Hearst Magazines has announced a plan to convert all of its websites into HTML5 sites, starting with Good Housekeeping.
Developers and businesses who want to get involved in the creation of Web standards now have an easier and more efficient way of doing so, thanks to the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) launch of Community and Business Groups today.
The W3C's new Community Groups allow any developer to propose a working group for a proposed standard. As soon as there is some degree of support for the standard among peers, the group, which is free to participate in, can get started.
The speed at which a Website loads is paramount to maintaining a positive user experience and, as we learned last year, has a direct impact on the site's organic search rankings on Google.
The search giant's recent beta launch of its Page Speed Service gives us the latest in a long line of products and tools designed to help site owners boost page load speed. In what is by no means a comprehensive list, we've outlined a few such tools worth checking out.
We're reviewing the first half of 2011 and in particular 5 trends that have helped shape the year so far. Earlier this week we looked at online privacy and group messaging. Today we get a bit geeky and review the continuing growth of HTML5.
HTML5 is the next version of HTML, the markup language that all web pages are written in. HTML5 is more interactive than the current version of HTML - it offers similar functionality to Flash technology - and is also much more suited to mobile devices. HTML5 was one of our top trends of 2010, after getting major support from Google and promising startups like Clicker. This year we've seen Microsoft jump on the HTML5 bandwagon, with strong integration into its IE browser and Windows OS (not without controversy). Also we've seen increasing talk in the developer community that HTML5 may be the elusive 'write once, run anywhere' code for the Web.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
has put to rest three years of speculation by giving final approval to generic Top-Level Domains that they think will be the future of site addresses and brand homes on the Web.
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) are essentially specific destinations for brands. Companies will be able to buy their brand and attach it to a URL. So instead of seeing Pepsi.com, the soda manufacturer could have Pepsi.soda or something similar. It will not be cheap to get your own TLD, with an $185,000 application fee and $25,000 a year to run the registry. Yet, some Internet advocates are crying foul, saying that gTLDs will create new headaches in cybersquatting, trademark issues and excessive spam.
The World Wide Web Consortium is trying to make it easier for developers and Internet stakeholders to create and define Web standards. Right now, the ability to define and create a Web standard is to create the standard and present it through a W3C working group. Yet, when it comes to incubating new standards, the W3C has not had a mechanism to foster developers coming up with new Internet standards.
W3C is working to fix that. In late June or early July, the consortium will launch developer community groups. The community groups, headed by Harry Halpin, will give developers coaching and W3C infrastructure to create standards that will eventually prevail across the entire Web.
Microsoft is working on an HTML5-enabled version of its Hotmail Web application, according to a new report from ZDNet. The updated version will deliver offline storage capabilities, which means webmail users will be able to access their email even when an Internet connection is not available. A similar feature is supposedly in the works for Gmail, Hotmail's top competitor, as well.
With Microsoft's initiatives in the area of HTML5 (the next major revision of the Web's core markup language), including its HTML5-enabled version of Bing search, and updates to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 Web browser, it wouldn't be surprising to hear that Microsoft is indeed working on an HTML5-enabled Hotmail Web application, too. But will Microsoft actually release it before Google does the same for Gmail? That could make things interesting.
