HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible, Fifth Edition

Chapter 18. The Future of HTML: HTML5

IN THIS CHAPTER

• More Publishing and Layout Features

• Accessible Multimedia

• Changes: Elements and Attributes

HTML has come a long way since its inception back in 1991. If you examine the specification by release version numbers alone—2, 3.2, 4.0, and 4.01—you might be tempted to disregard the evolutionary changes brought forth with each version. However, now that we stand on the edge of the release of HTML5, the jump in technology and intended use of the language becomes very apparent.

This chapter presents an overview of HTML5.

Note

This chapter was written based on a draft specification of HTML5. Currently, this version is still several years away from release and general adoption. As such, documentation within this chapter may not exactly match the final release of HTML5. To keep tabs on the latest happenings with HTML5, visit the official W3C site: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html.

More Publishing and Layout Features

The most interesting new aspects of HTML5 are two-fold:

• Elements created for publishing purposes, not just markup

• Elements created to provide easier avenues for nontextual elements (like multimedia)

Some examples of new elements created for publishing purposes are the new section elements—header, hgroup, nav, section, article, aside, and foote r. These elements are designed to free Web authors from overusing div elements to delimit document elements. For example, Figure 18.1 shows a suggested page layout created using the new section ...