Reasons Why HTML5 Is The Future Even Now

How Did HTML5 Change Things?

HTML4 saw the light of day in 1997. The development of XHTML, a parallel markup language, began around 2000. Its use has been common over the years, and the two are largely similar. One of the biggest drawbacks of HTML4 was its limited functionality. For instance, it required different plugins to provide anything more than textual content or images.

The development of HTML5 relied on the following principles to pave the way for a better browsing experience.

• Decreased dependency on plugins
• Replacing scripting with markups when possible
• Providing a similar user experience across different types of devices
• Making the development process public for increased transparency

Some other advantages of HTML5 over HTML include:

• Geolocation. HTML5 can easily detect a user’s location and then use it to provide tailor-made search results. It can even tag social media updates. In addition, it does not limit to a single provider’s browser tool or application program interface (API).
• Smart forms. HTML5 has made way for better controls when it comes to dealing with textual inputs in search boxes and elsewhere. It has also streamlined the validation of data, sending data via email, and interaction of textual inputs with other page elements.
• Focus on web apps. It is safe to say that HTML5 has simplified adding discussion boards, drag-and-drop tools, wikis, chat platforms, and a host of other elements into just about any website.
• The effect on mobile devices. As HTML5 adoption has become widespread, websites load faster than before. This has resulted in decreased bandwidth usage, which, in turn, has led to longer battery life for mobile devices.

Why HTML5 Is Used?

The answer to “Why HTML5 is used?” or “Why HTML5 is important?” is simple. Among the many HTML5 advantages, what stands out the most is that its enhanced web standards result in improved performance as well as highly efficient content management. HTML5 gives web developers an easy way to create completely responsive websites that do not rely on plugins or add-ons. This leads to web users having seamless browsing experiences.

Web developers who are part of any good web design company make the most of HTML5 benefits and features by bringing improvements in usability as well as overall user experience. They use various technical enhancements and the latest HTML5 features to create dynamic websites and apps that focus on user interaction. What also helps is that various other technologies such as PHP, ASP, and MySQL integrate with HTML5 easily.

What Makes HTML5 Better Than its Predecessors?

HTML5 came with several new features when compared with HTML4, which made web development more efficient and considerably simpler. It is more dynamic than its predecessors, includes multimedia elements, provides native support for audio and video, and allows making animations and even games. When it comes to the benefits of HTML5, this is what you may expect.

The Semantics

This refers to the new set of tags that works in enhancing your HTML code, helping make it increasingly meaningful. In the past, conventional developers used a lot of tag div. Now, they can easily develop using the new tags that include nav, header, and footer. This makes HTML more productive. When it comes to the classification of different web page parts, HTML5 provides all the necessary semantic elements.

Storage and Offline Benefits

If you’re worried about the storage of user data for fast upload to servers, you shouldn’t be. HTML5 gives you a bank that you may use to store data and synchronize it with the server as and when required. This feature ensures that your application is working even when a user is not online, and it enhances performance greatly.

Is it a good thing to have an application that functions well even without internet connectivity? It is, and HTML5 can help you achieve this. HTML5 can create an experience that users may access with or without the internet. In addition, you will also be able to save important data to databases locally.

Improved Connectivity

HTML5 has the capability of speeding up and boosting real-time chats and games. It also works in the delivery of improved communication. Connection and video conferencing controls take place in the browser directly, without the need for external applications or plug-ins.

Video Multimedia

HTML5 can integrate video and audio smoothly into browsers, eliminating the need for the nearly-obsolete Silverlight and Flash. Initially, there was no seamless way to incorporate videos into web pages. This resulted in a need for video player development. While these players functioned reasonably well, the need for external plug-ins meant you had to go through the annoying process of downloading them. Now, HTML5 does the work for you. Videos run smoothly and users get a good browsing experience without any delays.

3D Graphics and Special Effects

In the past, developers had to use JavaScript or Flash/CSS to create animation for visual effects. HTML5 comes with new tags such as canvas that give developers the ability to create great effects which are better than those produced by Flash. This explains why many experts feel it might be the right time to permanently say goodbye to Flash. HTML5 also provides other amazing features such as WebGL and 2D Canvas geared towards web graphics, giving it increased authority in this sphere.

Integration and Performance

HTML5 ensures that all your apps are fast and robust. This gives you the ability to handle multiple threads in the browser directly. It involves a JavaScript web worker running in the background and does not require assistance from any other scripts. Most importantly, it does not affect the performance of pages in any way. While the web worker is busy running in the background, other functions such as selecting and clicking become much faster.

Flash Replacement

Smartphones, without a doubt, have won the computer vs. mobile devices war. They have taken over the world, and an increasing number of people are starting to use them to perform internet-based activities. HTML5 is among the most favored tools by developers who brace for a future full of mobile devices. It has the capability of developing modern applications as well as mobile-friendly websites. Adobe’s official support for Flash stopped in 2021, leading developers to depend on HTML5 for handling web app development.

Mobile browsers have already embraced the use of HTML5 in the creation of mobile-ready projects. This is because of its ease of use in designing and building projects for smaller screen displays operated through touch. It improves markup tags including audio and video, animation canvas aspect, as well as modern semantic elements such as header, article, and aside. This gives a different appearance and meaning to various web page elements.

Is HTML5 Good for Game Development?

A significant number of game developers have moved to HTML5 because game development in HTML5 offers various benefits. These include:

• Multi-platform support. Quite like websites and mobile apps, you may use different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes to access games developed using HTML5.
• Accessibility across browsers. Another reason why HTML5 is better than other technologies for developing games is that users may access such games through just about any browser, be it Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Silk, or Edge. The “cache manifest” technology gives users the ability to play games offline by storing information in the cache.
• Auto updates. HTML5 game development makes way for automatic updates. This takes away the need to carry out frequent and typically cumbersome manual updates. In addition, every game player gets to play the most up-to-date version.
• Easy maintenance. When using HTML5 for game development, ongoing maintenance becomes easy owing to a single code base. The configuration of new updates takes place automatically. Publishers don’t have to resubmit their games to different app stores as users don’t store HTML5 games on their devices.
• Promotion. Since HTML5 games offer increased access to users, they are capable of reaching wide audiences. This gives developers the means to monetize their games by offering in-game advertisements that promote other apps or websites. In addition, sharing HTML5 games through featured links on gaming-based websites and social media platforms is easy.

What Is the Future of HTML5?

Technology in web development is evolving with each passing day. Scores of developers have already used HTML5 for developing major projects, and several native mobile developers now rely on traditional technology less than before. This makes it quite evident that HTML5 has become the new platform of choice, and it comes as no surprise that it has overtaken all other native development methods.

There might always be people who believe they need native mobile apps for more important platforms. However, most developers now choose to hop on the “working smart and not hard” bandwagon. Going forward, a web application will need to work with different mobile platforms, if not all, which is why experts believe that HTML5 is an important tool in the future of web development.

The Future Scope of HTML

In the past, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the WHAT Working Group (WHATWG) worked on the development of HTML5 together. In May 2019, W3C handed over all authority to WHATWG, indicating that it saw the potential for harm in maintaining two standards. The HTML Living Standard is in effect now, and W3C continues to partake in the development of HTML. What developers may expect from the now-de facto Living Standard includes:

• Image resizing. An image’s pixel size changes across devices. The HTML Living Standard works in recommending desired heights or widths for images, and servers then provide the most suitable resolutions.
• Increased control over videos. Going forward, HTML Living Standard is likely to provide enhanced control in spreading video structures across web pages. Developers may also expect increased control over text paths with annotations, subtitles, and the like.
• Pluggable languages and processors. More pluggable and vigorous languages will offer web developers increased elasticity as well as design alternatives. For example, web developers can already use pluggable processors for translating languages.
• Incorporating cameras. The future of HTML Living Standard will witness mobile phone cameras discovering new and improved ways of capturing different types of photos and videos. It may also lead to better camera management and capture rates.

Conclusion

There are several reasons why HTML5 will remain an important markup language in the web development world. These include a cleaner code structure than its predecessors, audio/video tags, cross-browser compatibility, Canvas for animation/game development, offline browsing, and no requirement for cookies.

If you wish to get a new website or revamp your existing one, you should consider partnering with a web design company that has designers who have a firm grip on HTML5. This will ensure you get a custom website built around your unique specifications. In addition, your new website will deliver a great user experience across all types of devices, which is perfect for achieving and maintaining high conversion rates.