What is “HTML5”?
HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the core markup language of the World Wide Web. The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) started work on the specification in June 2004 under the name Web Applications 1.0. As of February 2010, the specification is in the “Last Call” state at the WHATWG.
HTML5 is the proposed next standard for HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and DOM Level 2 HTML. It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Apache Pivot, and Sun JavaFX.
The ideas behind HTML5 were pioneered in 2004 by the WHATWG; HTML5 incorporates Web Forms 2.0, another WHATWG specification. The HTML5 specification was adopted as the starting point of the work of the new HTML working group of the W3C in 2007. This working group published the First Public Working Draft of the specification on January 22, 2008. The specification is an ongoing work, and is expected to remain so for many years, although parts of HTML5 are going to be finished and implemented in browsers before the whole specification reaches final Recommendation status.
Why writing it down?
隨着 Firefox , Chrome (Chrome: H264 & Ogg, Chromium: Ogg) , Opera , Safari 等相繼支援 HTML5 後，網上不少網站及 IT Blog 都引起激烈討論，同樣關於 Flash 及 Sliverlight 的留存問題。
WM7/OS X iPhone/Android 等 OS 暫時對 Flash 的支援度暫告欠佳，當中 OS X iPhone 公開指明不再支援 Flash，而 WM7 亦是未知知數 (至少測試版未見支援 Flash, Microsoft 在這方面亦表達得極為模糊) ，這使 Flash 的存在更直得業界探討。毋庸置疑，Adobe Flash 幫助填補了跨平台多媒體在網絡上體驗的空白，至少你每天生處於 Youtube 低下不能沒了 Flash Player。
不論 Flash 是否一個標準還是一個解決方案，但 Flash 在目前的生活當中仍存有一定的依賴性。為了僱用開發人員創建和維護網站，中小型企業不得不支付大量的資金，即使資金總額或許並不龐大，但至少相對他們的總體預算而言，也是一筆不菲的開支。而在這些網站中，這些企業網站普遍依賴採用大量的 Flash 技術，以向它的用戶提供動畫和其它新穎時尚的互動內容。放棄 Flash 將需要重新設計網站，這項工作量可以說是巨大的，更可怕的是，企業將不可避免地再次投入巨資。但是，與其說看著 Flash 緩步地走向死亡，中小企業很可能果斷地放棄 Flash ，轉而採用 HTML5 這樣的新式互聯網技術。
雲端網絡興起，Smartphone 步入快速增長年代 (可參考HTC股價, 題外話: 有興趣買的快入手 TW 2498) ，連港女師奶都會上 Apps Store 之時，若 Flash 依然不思進取 (不洗 Adobe 的大食風格) ，只是驅驅加上 Hardware acceleration 便有所革新及追上時代步伐的話，已經為時已晚。並且 HTML5 與現在的 CSS , SVG , MathML , WebGL 等等有更佳的配合，毋須再受到 Flash 的局限而有更佳的擴展及無限的開發可能。