The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) finalized and published HTML5 in October 2014. Recently, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a document stating display creative guidelines to make HTML5 the new standard in interactive marketing. The document is supported by Google, Adobe, AOL, Yahoo and other members of IAB. The guidelines indicate that HTML5 has emerged as a new standard within a shorter time span. At present, the version 5 of HTML, along with JavaScript and CSS3, is used widely by enterprises for building different types of web and mobile applications. There are also a number of reasons why HTML5 is the new standard.
10 Reasons Why HTML5 is the New Standard
1) Cleaner Markup
HTML5 elements make it easier for web application programmers to write clean and readable code. They can easily replace < div > tags with semantic HTML5 elements to make the code cleaner. The cleaner code base makes it easier for programmers to modify and update the web applications without putting extra time and effort. At the same time, the enhanced readability help search engine crawlers to understand the website content clearly.
2) Cross-Browser Compatibility
A large percentage of modern people accesses websites on their mobile devices. So the businesses need to create websites using technologies supported by major web browsers and operating systems. At present, HTML5 is being supported by major web browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera. However, each browser may not support the HTML5 elements introduced recently. But each browser can read and understand the doctype to deliver the most appropriate content to each user.
3) Responsive Web Design
With more and more people accessing websites on their smartphones, tablets and phablets, it has become essential for enterprises to adopt responsive web design. Responsive web design aims to deliver quality web browsing experience to each user regardless of his preferred device. HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript helps programmers to create responsive websites that offer full functionality across a wide variety of devices without relying on horizontal scrolling. This in turn helps websites to deliver richer user experience.
4) Offline Application Cache Facility
The offline cache facility offered by HTML5 further boost’s website’s user experience. The feature enables users to access the sites they have visited in past even when there is no active internet connection. The users can further reload key elements of the page smoothly when the internet connection becomes dead. While creating websites, the programmers simply have to specify the files that the user’s web browser must save.
5) Easy Way to Add Audio or Video to the Website
HTML5 further makes it easier for developers to embed audio or video in a web page without writing longer lines of code. They can simply use the HTML5 < audio > or < video > element to add rich media content to the web page. The audio and video will be further downloaded and played by the web browsers without requiring any third-party plug-ins or tools. The programmers also have option to customize the video clips to boost the users’ video experience.
6) Elegant Forms
Both web applications and mobile apps use forms to receive input from users. But the programmers have to explore ways to make the forms look more stylish and appealing. HTML5 makes it easier for developers to create forms that look more elegant and fancier. The programmers also have option to use additional input types, new attributes, and easy data validation options. The elegant forms will make it easier for users to submit input accurately and quickly. The enterprises can also use the forms as an effective tool to achieve higher conversion rate.
7) Smart Storage Feature
The new storage feature provided by HTML5 helps businesses to store and transmit user information in a more secure way. Unlike cookies, the new storage features stores user information across multiple windows. Further, the user information need not be deleted after each browsing session as the feature is designed just like a client-side database. The smarter storage option makes it easier for programmers to accomplish tasks like storing user information, caching data, and reloading the user’s previous application state.
8) Better User Interaction
HTML5 further helps developers to make websites more responsive and interactive. They can use the < canvas > element to draw custom HTML tags, and user them to interact with the users more proactively. Also, the developers can use the native APIs provided by HTML5 to make the website more interactive and deliver richer user experience. The programmers can use a number of native APIs for document editing, offline storage database, browser history management, and timed media playback.
9) Display Enhanced Search Engine Results
This technology makes it easier for businesses to enhance the search engine ranking and visibility of their websites. Google supports the microdata used in HTML5 rich snippets. The microdata specified the structured information within the website to search engines. So the website can display enhanced and localized search results to users. At the same time, the geolocation micro data supported by Google helps websites to deliver location-specific content to each user. The feature further makes it easier for businesses to carry out geo-targeted marketing campaigns and track the conversion rate.
10) Facilitates Game Development
HTML5 is used widely by businesses across the world for creating mobile-friendly and interactive games. The developers can use HTML5 < canvas > tag to create a variety of games just like developing games with Adobe Flash. However, the users can play the HTML5 games many devices. Many developers have even created several multiplayer games using HTML5 and Node.js. Thus, programmers can use it for developing both responsive websites and mobile-friendly games. In case you would want to know more about this, I have elaborated more about this topic in my article HTML5 for game development: Is it good enough?
The enterprises also have option to speed up front-end web development using a number of open source HTML5 frameworks and HTML5 website builders. Based on the specific needs of the project, a business can opt for Twitter Bootstrap, Foundation, Skeleton, HTML5 Boilerplate or Zebra. The frameworks and tools further contribute hugely towards making it the new standard. However, the programmers still need to identify the newly introduced HTML5 elements that are not supported by all web browsers, and take required action to enhance the quality of content delivered to users.
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