"W3C today published an early draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web. The HTML Working Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-free specification for rich Web content and Web applications. The group operates entirely in public with nearly five hundred participants, including representatives from W3C Members ACCESS, AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera. Some of the most interesting new features for authors are APIs for drawing two-dimensional graphics, embedding and controlling audio and video content, maintaining persistent client-side data storage, and for enabling users to edit documents and parts of documents interactively. Authors write HTML 5 using either a 'classic' HTML syntax or an XML syntax, according to application demands. See a list of changes from HTML 4."
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Member since:2005-07-08
"why they waste resources to make another "standard" when we've already got XHTML"
The existing XHTML standard is fine as long as it fulfills all the needs, hopes and expectations of web developers and Internet users. However, obviously that is not always the case. HTML5 offers lots of promising new features and improvements that can improve Internet for both developers and users. Besides, HTML5 is based on XHTML, so it is not so much replacing the XHTML standard but trying to improve it.
My main worry is if a few big corporations were allowed to dictate the web and other standards (for example, what kind of multimedia is supported directly in HTML, only a couple of proprietary formats or also more open multimedia formats?). Why should a few corporate bosses have the power to dictate to all others on the planet how the Internet should be developed and used? Of course big corporations are important and worth listening to. But we don't live on this planet only to serve the interest of a few corporations - but instead, the mission of those big corporations should be to serve us, people.
Edited 2008-01-23 20:55 UTC
Member since:
2005-07-06
I truly don't get why they waste resources to make another "standard" when we've already got XHTML. Website developers, it's really not that hard to make your site XHTML compliant. Get off your lazy asses and work for once instead of bitching about backwards compatibility! People will always need to upgrade their software anyway.