Smashing Html5

Chapter 2: Understanding HTML5 Tags

Programmers characterize computer languages as ranging from low-level languages that virtually mimic the native language of the computer to high-level languages that are close to how people talk. HyperText Markup Language Version 5 (HTML5) is a very high-level language. However, the original HTML had very few “words” with which to describe what the developer and designer wanted. As the Web grew, the demands on HTML grew. With help from Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript, designers could do more with Web pages, but still, a lot was lacking.

More help was available for creating Web pages in the form of plug-ins that were able to run languages like Java and applications made with Flash. In fact, most browsers were bundled with the latest plug-ins for Flash so that users could view pages created with Flash and Flash Builder (Flex).

However, Web developers still wanted more from HTML and CSS to run natively with browsers. Browser makers quietly were adding functionality to JavaScript required to work with the new elements in HTML5. With new versions of each browser, not only was HTML5 being fully implemented, so too was JavaScript and CSS3. This chapter explains how the different HTML5 elements work and how they work in conjunction with CSS3 and JavaScript.

Parsing Code

Sooner or later, you’ll hear the phrase parsing code in reference to browsers and HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. All that means is that the browser is reading the code and ...