Monday, August 8, 2011

What Does HTML5 Mean For Internet Users

By William Louis


HTML5, the new version of HTML, has created a lot of excitement amongst web developers. Even though development has not yet been completed, there is already a lot of speculation about how HTML5 will alter our experience of the world wide web.

Website owners do not need to worry about changing anything on their page. Any site written in the latest version of HTML, HTML4, will continue to work exactly as it did before.

There will however, be the option to improve websites by adding new features. This includes the ability to embed video directly into the page rather than using Flash to display it. Currently, Adobe Flash is very widely used across the Internet. However, the change to HTML5 could lead to it declining into obsolescence.

Internet users will be glad to learn that surfing the web is about to get faster. Websites will be able to store a greater amount of information on the user's machine, so that it does not need to be transmitted every time the site is accessed. Although this already occurs to an extent in the form of cookies, there are strict limits on the amount of information that can be stored.

One of the main aims of introducing a new version of HTML is to improve the mobile browsing experience. Currently, mobile browsers struggle to interpret some sites that were designed with computer users in mind. Websites written according to the new standard will be better at recognizing when they are being accessed by a mobile device, and will modify the way they display to improve the experience of the mobile user.

This could be the beginning of the end for the mobile "app". Applications will run more effectively within browsers, which means that developers may choose to develop browser based applications instead of ones that will only run on a particular platform. The advantage for developers is that they can reach a wider market of potential users by offering browser based applications.

Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari are already prepared for the change. This means that Internet users do not have to do anything in order to enjoy the benefits offered by HTML5. Look out for new features as part of an all round better browsing experience.




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