The latest buzzword in the web world is HTML5. For web designers and developers it’s old news, having actually been around for years. It hit the news more recently, though, when former Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote a public letter arguing that Adobe’s Flash was dead and HTML5 was the future.
For anyone outside the web design community this seems like a very industry-specific and technical debate the couldn’t be of less import (and interest) to them. A closer look, however, shows that this move might just usher in the next generation of the internet – with implications that will be far ranging and have an impact on everyone who uses the web or a mobile device.
HTML5 is essentially the most recent version of the markup (programming) language that is used to create web pages. It builds on existing code and adds new commands and capabilities.
So why should you care? Two main reasons. First, HTML5 allows content creators to easily deliver video, audio and other multimedia far more easily than ever before. Secondly, it allows the creation of web pages and sites that are visible across multiple devices, including mobile devices like phones and tablets.
This will mean that when you create a video, for example, you are now able to easily post that video to your website, and that the video will work properly on almost all browsers and other web-enabled devices.
It also means that you can no longer ignore the explosion of mobbile devices like phones and tablets.
So what’s the bottom line for content creators, website managers and business owners? It means that you should be exploring the possibilites offered by HTML5, and that any serious web redesign or web strategy has to include a significant mobile component.
