HTML provides the structure of web pages. It is not a programming language, but a markup language that assigns layout meaning to keywords that web browsers interpret.

HTML5 separates design and content, while allowing for the use of styles that are applied to specific tags. This is a great benefit for web developers who need to create sites that are compatible with all devices.

Multimedia Support

In the early days of the Web, adding visual elements like images or videos was a difficult task. This had to be done by incorporating third-party software, such as JavaScript or Flash, into the site.

With HTML5, multimedia support is built into the language itself. The audio> and video> tags make it simple to add audio and video content to a webpage without the need for external plugins. In addition, the src attribute identifies the media source and can include a controls attribute that allows users to play, stop, or change the playback speed.

Video support in HTML5 also includes a new video> tag that supports different video formats. This feature makes it easier to create websites that work on multiple devices and browsers. It also eliminates the need for third-party plug-ins, which is a major benefit of HTML5.

In addition to multi-media support, HTML5 has numerous other features that make it more versatile and easier to use. Its semantic markup helps with SEO, and it contains many new elements that improve page structure. These include header>, footer>, nav>, article>, and section>. These new semantic tags also help with accessibility by making it easier for search engines to index pages and screen readers to interpret them. In addition, it has a path> element that lets you draw shapes and curves easily.

Embedded Plugins

Prior to HTML5, it was necessary to use plugins such as Adobe Flash Player to incorporate audio and video into web pages. HTML5 makes it possible to embed these elements directly into the page itself by using the audio> and video> tags. These elements also make it possible to incorporate the new WebM video format, which provides a good compression to quality ratio and can be played on most devices.

In addition, HTML5 encourages separation of design and content by separating style declarations from the markup that describes the structure of a page. This allows for easier site maintenance and redesign, as it is no longer necessary to rework markup to accommodate different browsers or devices. It also enables better compatibility with assistive technologies such as text-to-speech converters, screen readers that suppress styling while boosting text magnification and contrast, and braille interpreters.

The World Wide Web Consortium developed HTML in the 1990s, and it became the foundation for the Internet. It has since become an international standard and is supported by most major browsers. Unlike programming languages, which have features such as branching and looping, HTML is a plain-text protocol that assigns meaning to keywords that web browsers interpret into a presentation. As a result, many of the advanced concepts and technologies found in HTML5 can seem complicated to those unfamiliar with the language.

Accessibility

In addition to providing a better user experience for individuals with disabilities, accessible web content benefits everyone. For example, captions on videos are helpful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing but also make video content easier to consume in noisy environments. And a website’s high color contrast between foreground and background colors makes it easier to read for individuals with low vision or color blindness.

Semantic HTML5 code makes it easier to create responsive and accessible websites. It uses elements that convey meaning to both browsers and users, like header>, nav, main, and article, to organize page content. This structure provides more context to AT devices (like screen readers) and helps search engines find and interpret content.

Finally, HTML5 supports the ARIA specification, which allows developers to add attributes to standard HTML elements to improve their accessibility. For example, role=”button”> can be added to a div to indicate that it should behave as a button when clicked. This attribute is especially useful for web components that don’t have a semantic equivalent in HTML, such as drag and drop and geolocation.

The bottom line is that no tech-first business should ignore the advantages of HTML5. With its superior coding efficiency and cutting-edge engagement capabilities, it’s becoming the markup language of choice across many industries. Plus, it offers more powerful APIs for functionality that previously required plugins and custom coding, such as web storage, offline functionality, and geolocation.

Performance

The most significant update to HTML5 is the ability to deliver a full-scale web application without the need for plugins. This is largely due to new form elements and superior integration with CSS, allowing developers to write full-scale rich media applications that would typically require JavaScript or Flash to achieve.

Additionally, HTML5 provides improved standards to keep webpages running smoothly on less powerful devices, including mobile phones and tablets. It also helps to streamline the process of website redesign by separating design and content, as a single set of rules handles style declarations, while the content itself is adapted for different browsers and platforms.

In addition, HTML5 allows the use of video> and audio> tags to create multimedia elements that can be displayed and played in a web page. New semantic markup allows web pages to be easily structured for navigation, and a variety of text formatting features such as text-shadow, opacity, font-weight, and ligatures are supported.

HTML5 has also deprecated a number of obsolete tags, which have been replaced with more straightforward, semantic elements such as article, nav, and header. This improves the consistency of code, and reduces mistakes by removing the need to match tag names and attributes. In addition, HTML5 supports the XML serialization of its markup, allowing developers to use stricter XHTML syntax and quoting attribute values, as well as other XML-related features.