Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Welcome to the HTML 5 Bandwagon

Early in August, Microsoft officially set fire to the web by finally manifesting the company’s clear interest in developing the standard that would revamp the face of the web. The move is hardly surprising, though somewhat belated.


The web is no longer the way it used to be back in late nineties – that is, it is no longer static. The term “RIA” seems to have already lost its novelty glitter. The majority of users know better than to be satisfied with the more ascetic, video-less offerings and increasingly turn towards web apps. Naturally, that requires a new web, standardized from a different standpoint.


The effort on HTML 5 has been vigorously implemented in all the major browsers, but the notable (someone would even say expected) thing was that IE by and large remained out of the business for a while. HTML 5 heavily depends on its consistent feedback from throughout the software world, so support from the Microsoft camp is critical to whether we are seeing offline web experience, client-side storage and a host of other features that would upgrade the flavor of the web. On the flip side, Microsoft is a real-world company that cannot afford falling behind. Gradually, yet evenly, the software giant delivers its response to change, be it offering a free lightweight version of Office, giving more weight to social media aspects and introducing cross-browser support in the upcoming SharePoint or, just as importantly, turning to tackle HTML 5.


At last, the next-generation web standard and the maker of one of the leading browsers, which by the way has started to lose ground, have arrived at a negotiation spot. In the now ubiquitously known HTML 5 mailing list posting, Adrian Bateman of the IE team said the team are in the middle of gathering their thoughts. A number of concerns have been voiced, including labeling the partially adopted


It seems, however, that the real big yes/no question that will define pretty much of both the standard itself and its backing is audio and video playback out of the browser, which could potentially phase out respective plug-ins and is bound to trigger further debate.


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