What’s New in HTML5?
The HTML5 specification includes a number of new input types designed to make forms and browsers smarter about how they process input. These include numeric types like Number and Range and date types like Date, Time, and Month. There are also types defined for common text scenarios including telephone numbers, URLs, and email addresses. These types will help with validation and help define what keyboard to show on devices without hardware keyboards. For example, a user that clicks on an “email” field on their phone would see their phone’s built-in keyboard that includes the @ symbol. All of the inputs will also support placeholder (watermark) text and an autofocus attribute.
SVG and Canvas
The Web Sockets part of the HTML 5 specification allows the browser to have 2-way communication with a remote socket server. The most exciting feature is to allow a server to send data to the browser in real time, making applications requiring real time data, such as stock trading, possible.
Native Audio and Video Tags
The HTML5 specification also includes native audio and video tags for embedding multimedia into a web site. These tags drastically reduce the complexity involved with publishing media on a site because the browser handles the playback interface.
Another new feature in HTML5 is a specification for the application to retrieve a user’s physical location without having to estimate it from their IP address. This feature opens up the possibility for websites like the Weather Channel to automatically show the weather in your location without you having to input it manually. This is also an exciting feature on the mobile front for HTML web applications to work on phones and provide users with an immersive experience based on their location.
HTML5 brings about new interfaces for designers to use custom Typography within their web applications. This will help websites define their brand further through their own custom fonts.
Web storage is a specification that allows a web application to store data in a user’s browser (similar to cookies) with a simple API. This capability will let web sites work better in the event a user’s internet connection drops. Facebook has already implemented this feature in their messaging platform. If you lose your internet connection while writing a message that message will not be lost. It will be saved and sent the next time you have an available connection.
The Future of the Web