HTML5 has been perhaps the most talked about revision of the web's native tongue since the early days of hyperlinked graphical online content. Over the years web has evolved far away from the paradigm of various linked "documents" which featured animation and interactivity as a bit of an afterthought. Various websites have become sophisticated enough to handle even the most demanding tasks that until recently on stand-alone desktop applications were capable of accomplishing. HTML alone was unable to handle many such applications on its own, and their implementation oftentimes require almost heroic efforts of coding wizardry and an alphabet soup of various online add-ons. This is where HTML5 comes in. It is designed from the ground up to be both compatible with previous versions of HTML, and provide the developer with an integrated approach to a whole variety of online formats and behaviors.
Brett McLaughlin's "What Is HTML5?" is a longish article that aims to explain the rationale and importance of HTML5 from a very conceptual standpoint. This eBook is aimed primarily at the web developer community, but even those of us who are less immersed in all the intricacies of cool website design can appreciate the information that we can glean from reading this material. This is not a technical introduction to HTML5, so if you are looking for a brief description of all the new tags and features you will be seriously disappointed. However, if you are interested in understanding how exactly is HTML5 revolutionizing web development and what its implementation means for the whole industry, then you will find many very interesting insights and points within this eBook. For instance, there are certain misconceptions about what is the exact relation between HTML5 and JavaScript, as well as about the causal relation between web on mobile devices and the advent of HTML5. McLaughlin tries to clear up some of the confusion, and in my opinion he largely succeeds in this.
One of my favorite things about this book is its style: McLaughlin approaches the subject of HTML5 relatively casually, and his writing is peppered with colorful imagery and healthy dose of humor. Even though this short eBook is aimed at the technical audience, it is not written in geek-speak. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the latest developments in web standards and technology.
