HTML & CSS: The Complete Reference, Fifth Edition, 5th Edition

CHAPTER 2 Introducing HTML5

The HTML5 specification not only embraces the past, by supporting traditional HTML- and XHTML-style syntax, but also adds a wide range of new features. Although HTML5 moves forward from HTML 4, it also is somewhat of a retreat and an admission that trying to get every Web developer on the Internet to write their markup properly is a futile effort, particularly because few Web developers are actually formally trained in the technology. HTML5 tries to bring order to chaos by codifying common practices, embracing what is already implemented in browsers, and documenting how these user agents (browsers or other programs that consume Web pages) should deal with our imperfect markup.

HTML5’s goals are grand. The specification ...