Contents
Chapter 1: A Somewhat Sensationalized History of HTML5
How Architecture Astronauts and the W3C Tried to Kill HTML
XHTML Is Born, But What Does It Mean?
Draconian Error Handling (Or: Why Don’t I Just Punch You in the Face?)
OK, Not Really. But Your Browser Would Punch You in the Face
But the Crazy Had Only Just Begun
HTML5: A New Hope . . . We Hope
HTML5 Is the New Black or Hotness or Something
Is HTML5 Hype, Substance, or Both?
XHTML 2.0 Is Dead and Everyone Is Happy
HTML5 . . . er . . . HTML, wait . . . HTML.next?
Should We Just Kill Off the W3C Altogether or Embrace It?
How Does New Stuff Get Added to HTML5 Now?
Chapter 2: The Truth About a Basic HTML5 Web Page
What About an HTML5 Shim and CSS for the New Elements?
What About the HTML5 Boilerplate and Modernizr?
Chapter 3: The Truth About Structuring an HTML5 Page
A Little Taste of Pain: The Sectioning Elements
Where Did These Elements Come From?
The Contradiction at the Heart of HTML5’s New Elements
What Is an Outline, and Why Should I Care?
How We Currently Create Outlines (Even Without Realizing It)
“Sectioning” Is an Old Problem
If We Care About Blind Users, We Should Care About Headings
HTML5’s “Improved” Outlining Was Dead Before It Ever Shipped
Sneaking in Big Ideas Leads to Dead Ideas
The Exception Is <main> (Sort Of)
How Should We Structure an HTML5 Page?
Styling Headings HTML5-Style Is Kind of Insane
This Is Not Inconsequential: People Have to Teach This Stuff
A Sane Approach to Structural Markup for Accessibility
Chapter 4: The Truth About HTML5’s Structural Elements
Really, It Doesn’t Do Anything
How Can Screen Readers Use <header> When It’s Everywhere?
Good Intentions; Accessibility Disaster
So, What’s the Difference Between <article> and <section>?
An Aside Creates an Outline Section in Weird Places
ARIA Alternative: Complementary
Footer Doesn’t Do Anything Either
A Funny Thing Happened…Graceful Degradation Died and JavaScript Became Mandatory
Uh…Web Design Community, What Happened?
Conclusion: R.I.P. HTML5 Structural Elements
Chapter 5: The Truth About HTML5 Micro-semantics and Schema.org
These Problems Have Been Solved
There’s No Such Thing As “More” Semantic
Big Ideas in Semantic Markup: The Semantic Web
Semantics: Not Dead Yet (Or: Google & Co Drop a Micro-Semantic Bombshell)
E-commerce with Real (Micro) Semantics
Can the Real Semantics Please Stand Up?
Why Should We Care About Micro-semantics?
Schema.org: The Future of Semantics?
The Semantic Web We’ve Been Waiting For?
How Not to Launch an Initiative
What Do the People Behind Schema.org Think?
Wrapping Up: Semantics and HTML
Chapter 6: The Truth About HTML5 and SEO
But What If It Helped … Somehow?
Zombie Myths Must Die … Eventually
Chapter 7: The Truth About HTML5’s Other New Elements
Wrap Your Anchor Around This, and Other Bits and Pieces
Wrap Anchors Around Block-Level Elements
Should We Even Use These Obscure Little Tags?
Chapter 8: The Truth About HTML5 Forms
Forms Can Make or Break a Site
New Input Types: E-mail, URL, Telephone Number, and Search
Attributes: Autocomplete, Autofocus, Readonly, and Spellcheck
HTML5 Forms: The “I Wouldn’t Yet But You Can If You Really Want”
Input Type: Date (Time/Calendar Widgets)
Input Type: Color (Color Picker)
Input Type and Element: Datalist
You Hypocrite. I Thought Requiring JavaScript Was the Worst Thing Ever
Chapter 9: The Truth About HTML5’s Canvas, Gaming, and Flash
Flash Is Dying, and HTML5 Is All We’ve Got
Can Canvas and HTML5 Fill the Gap?
Let’s Bury Flash-isms with Flash
The Sometimes Good and Sometimes Bad Canvas Emulation for IE6–8
The Haphazard World of Web Standards (Or: How Did We End Up with Canvas?)
The Canvas Element and Accessibility
Primitive Development Environment
Getting Started with Canvas Game Development
Canvas for Students and Hobbyists
3D on the Web: WebGL Alternatives
Chapter 10: The Truth About Audio and Video in HTML5
Native <video> and <audio> in Action
Google Threatens to Take Chrome WebM Only…and Then Doesn’t
Querying Supported Video Types with JavaScript
Audio and Video Media Players to the Rescue
MediaElement (Video and Audio, Free)
Flowplayer (Video, Free and Commercial)
Other Flies in the HTML5 Video Ointment: DRM, Streaming, and Full-Screen Video
Is HTML5 <audio> Ready for Games?
Chapter 11: The Truth About SVG: The Flash Challenger That Was, Wasn’t, and Now…
SVG: Browser Support Arrives at Last
Yes, There Is Real-World SVG We Can Use Right Now
SVG in the ’00s: The Great Hope That Wasn’t
SVG Browser Support: Android, What the Hell? Oh, and IE…
SVG Demos: What Is It Good For?
Chapter 12: The Truth About HTML5 Web Apps, Mobile, and What Comes Next
HTML5 on Mobile: WebKit and Beyond
Mobile Is a Moving Target: Microsoft’s Big Push
Firefox OS: Mozilla’s Ambitious Mobile Platform, and the WebAPI
HTML5-Powered Content Management
JavaScript Killed the HTML Star
Modernizr, When Can I Use . . . , and Polyfills
HTML5 Web Storage (and JavaScript-Rendered CSS)
HTML5 Offline (Application Cache)
Other APIs That May Be of Interest to You
Chapter 13: The Truth About the Future of Web Design: Performance-Based Design