So, after constantly validating my web page for the past week in every possible way, I came across something … terrible. It’s HTML revision 5! Oh no! May the gods have mercy!

Ok, it’s not as bad as that. It’s been in development as early as 2004, and representatives from all major browsers are involved in its process. However, there’s not been much talk about it. Which means either not much information is being released to the public, it’s not as revolutionary as it’s made up to be, or nobody really cares. The fact that almost all XHTML Strict/Transitional sites are valid in experimental HTML 5 anyways (with the exception of those lacking the appropriate meta-tags) may support the two latter explanations.

Most of this information is taken from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/previewofhtml5 , so if I’m a little confusing, I wont be offended if you go check out his blog for clarity.

The whole purpose of HTML 5 is to support “semantic web”. There’s no exact description for it, but here’s a try from http://www.barrywise.com/2008/05/semantic-markup-and-semantic-coding-guidelines-for-seo/ :

“Semantic markup (or Semantic coding) is the practice of programming your website so that the code used is descriptive and representative of the information it contains.”

It’s also supposed to look great to search browsers, like Google. So how does HTML 5 accomplish this?

Let’s look at a very stripped down, no css, modern structure for a two columned website (possibly a blogsite). Here’s what it looks like:

<div id=”header”>…</div>
<div id=”navlinks”>…</div>
<div id=”article”><div class=”section”>…</div></div>
<div id=”sidebar”>…</div>
<div id=”footer”>…</div>

Without further ado, the new concept:

<header>…</header>
<nav>…</nav>
<article><section>…</section></article>
<aside>…</aside>
<footer>…</footer>

Yes, these are all to be valid tags, attempting to usurper the traditional <div> tags. Like a div, each one of these new elements can support several other tags at once, such as putting both a <h1> and <p> tag in a <header> element.
Also, both <video> and <audio> tags are being used to standardize how media content is handled. Here’s an example of how one would code a visable video to their site, with basic javascript control:

<video src=”video.ogg” id=”video”></video>
<script>
var video = document.getElementById(“video”);
</script>
<button type=”button” onclick=”video.play();”>Play</button>
<button type=”button” onclick=”video.pause();”>Pause</button>
<button type=”button” onclick=”video.currentTime = 0;”>Rewind</button>

Looks easy enough. There’s also to be a <time> element (displaying time using just html? sweet.), along with a few other less descriptive ones. New form fields, such as Email, Url, and Search, are to make an appearance as well. What does this all mean?

1. A website, including the addition of media, will be easier to code.

2. The code is cleaner to the user, meaning that it’s less likely to have syntax errors.

3. The code is cleaner to the search engines. Imagine how easy it would be for Google to plow through such a structured document and rank it appropriately.

4. Over time, as websites accept the usage of HTML 5, a two-columned, organized layout MAY predominate within the internet. Other divs may be included to give the site some added design flavor, of course, but use of the aforementioned new structure could be widespread.

The last comment might be a subject of debate, so I won’t express my actual feelings and thoughts on HTML 5. Is the internet already too broad for the “code conformity” that this new revision proposes? You be the judge.

But we all know what will happen. Sooner or later, somebody’s going to start a rumor, claiming that search engine crawlers prioritize sites with a <header> tag, or something silly like that. I guarantee you’ll experience bad connection that day. And you’ll know where I’ll be.

PS: I forgot. The <font>, <center>, and <strike> tag are to be deprecated and destroyed. About time.

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Jeremy Fama is a recent web and graphic design graduate with a few years of experience already under his belt. He has received awards and recognition from John Abbott College for his contribution to the community, and is currently working full-time as a web developer for Pinnacle Media.

Learn more about him by visiting his personal site Fame Designs.