Html5
现在的 HTML5 就像当年崭露头角时的 Ajax，有人在做，但不知道叫它什么。最近，苹果在 HTML5 上大做文章，而著名的 Web 设计师 Eric Meyer 则提出了 Web Stacks 的概念。Alex Kessinger 是 Yahoo 的一名前端工程师，本文是他对 HTML5 应用现状与前景的思考。
术语
首先说说 HTML5 应用中的几个定义。
HTML5
HTML5 最好的定义来自 Mark Pilgrim 的 Dive Into HTML5：
"HTML5 是继 HTML4.01，XHTML 1.0/1.1 之后的下一代 HTML"
值得一提的是，我们或许能看到 HTML6，然而按 Pilgrim 在 WHATWG 博客中的说法，下一代 HTML 很可能去掉版本号这一概念。
应用
来自 Wikipedia 的解释：
"应用程序是计算机用来执行特定任务的软件"
HTML5 应用
从用户的角度，HTML5 应用和其它的计算机应用程序还不完全一样，但已经很接近。从开发者的角度，HTML5 应用是一些基于 HTML，JavaScript，CSS 的程序，它们使用开放技术，可以离线使用，可以取代诸如 Silverlight 及 Flash 等专用平台的部分工作。或者说，多年来，你用来创建 Web 页面的东西，现在可以用来创建类似桌面和智能手机程序的应用。
开源模式带来转变
O’Reilly 创始人，Tim O’Reilly，一位开源的支持者，曾在《Open Source Paradigm Shift》中如是说：
"IBM 对个人电脑设计的商品化使利润从硬件转移到软件这一层面，而开源将带来新的财富"
价值在不同的层面转移，HTML5 将成为新的层面，商品的价值在下降，现时的浏览器已经成为商品，但这并没有问题，只要它们都遵守标准。人们说，我们可以将操作系统置入浏览器中，但这行不通，如果我们可以从过去的经历中学到些什么，那就是，不能简单照抄过去的模式，好比广播到电视的变迁，你不能简单地在一个播音员面前放台摄像机完事，将操作系统置入浏览器未必比 HTML5 离线应用本身更有价值。
发布渠道的重要
诸如 苹果应用商店，Android 应用商店一类的渠道将成为主导，另外，一些新的，象 Valve 游戏渠道，Netflix 电影渠道一类的东西将会出现，在”云“时代，这些发布渠道将像桌面时代的操作系统一样用来对用户进行组织和归类。
我们是如何到达现在这个阶段的?
有两个关键的因素。
感谢 Web 标准
尽管浏览器市场并不统一，但至少他们都运行 HTML，JavaScript 和 CSS。当我们希望通过 Web 推出一些东西的时候，我们知道，无论如何，用户都能看到，然而你能想象人们都自己定义 Web 时的情景吗，假如有人不使用 HTTP协议，或者不使用 HTML，那才是世界的末日。W3C 一类的组织让各个浏览器厂家都保持同一个方向。
还好，我们并没有很多渲染引擎
浏览器并不好做，数十亿的网页，参差不齐的代码，这些东西让独立开发者没有机会单独设计浏览器，因此，有能力设计浏览器的始终是那么一小撮厂商，事实上，时至今日，我们只有四种主要的浏览器渲染引擎，Trident (IE), Gecko (Mozilla, Firefox), WebKit (Chrome, Safari), 以及 Presto (Opera)，而众多浏览器都是建立在这些渲染引擎之上的。这意味着，不管在什么样的设备上，我们不用太担心它使用什么样的浏览器，不管什么设备，只要它有一个浏览器，就有一个可以运行 HTML5 的环境。
标准何日面世？
关于 HTML5 成为标准的时间，Ian Hixie 的说法最受认可:
"根据估计，HTML5 直到 2022 年才会形成 W3C 推荐标准"
然而，虽然标准的形成尚待时日，但浏览器厂商已经在实现各种 HTML5 功能。
功能探测 vs 浏览器探测
如果你是开发者，你可以使用那些高级功能，但需要进行功能探测并提供渐进式设计。坊间有大量的功能探测库，如 Modernizer ，另外，Mark Pilgrim 有一个清单，它可以让你探测任何功能。
离线 API
离线 API 是一切 HTML5 应用的基础，不单单是离线数据的事，对开发者来说，拥有本地存储（localStorage）自然很好，但如何让程序完全离线运行？Application Cache 是答案。如果不能离线保存源文件和数据，我们就无法实现离线的 HTML5 应用。
我们目前有几种离线存储机制，简单的如 localStorage 和 SQL 存储引擎，已经有一些浏览器在支持了，而最新的明星是 Indexed Database，它得到了所有主流浏览器支持。这些离线保存应用和数据的能力，是 HTML5 的基础，目前，Webkit，Firefox 已经可以实现，而 IE9 也即将实现。即时 IE9 的支持还需要等待，想一下，最需要离线应用的场合是哪里，自然是智能手机和上网本，智能手机多数都是用 Webkit。
W3C Web 应用工作组：HTML5 应用的下一步
W3C WebApps 标准已经做了大量工作，包括 API 及 HTML5 Web 程序细则。
HTML5 应用的打包部署
HTML5 apps – QuirksBlog 博客文章中说，"对于本地/离线 HTML5 应用，W3C Widget packaging and configuration 是首选机制，并将成为事实标准，很多厂商已经开始对之进行实现。W3C Widgets 支持任意平台的 Vodafone S60 和 Samsung 手机, Opera 桌面与移动浏览器，Bolt 浏览器 以及 Windows Mobile 6.5。BlackBerry 也支持，不过需要特殊的 Java 包。"
这些都是标准，本质上讲，如果你有一个 HTML5 应用，它就会包含 HTML, CSS, 以及 JS，这些标准只不过偶是帮助开发者将他们的程序打包发行，如果你熟悉 PEAR, 它们是很相似的概念。你可能需要一些元数据，告诉系统你的程序是如何打包在一起的，在支持这些标准的平台上，你就可以保证你的用户可以顺利运行这些程序。
其它
HTML5 还有更多 API 可以帮助开发者创建应用，这些 API 可以让你的程序访问诸如本地文件，摄像头，SOCKET 通信服务，以及硬件动画加速等。这些 API 仅仅是开端，这样的 API 后期会越来越多。
HTML5 程序可以应用在哪里？
当然是浏览器，如果一个设备拥有一个浏览器或渲染引擎，而且这个引擎是现代引擎，它就可以运行 HTML5 程序。HTML5 程序会应用在以下几种场合。
桌面
如果你拥有一个符合 Web 标准的浏览器，就可以运行 HTML5 应用。桌面仍然很重要。
指定站点浏览器
诸如 Gmail 一类的站点可以看做一个应用，使用专门的浏览器运行，这样的浏览器没有地址栏，是专门用来运行指定站点应用的，甚至可以制作一个安装包来分发。以下资源值得一看，Prism, Fluid/Fluidium 以及 NativeHost。
移动领域
这是 HTML5 最热门的运行场所。iPhone 可以和很多程序集成，将你的程序显示在它的今日桌面（这里有一个教程），Android 也支持需要的 HTML5 API，但集成不够好。未来几年，支持 HTML5 的移动浏览器将如雨后春笋，将你的应用向 HTML5 迁移是很明智的，因为 HTML5 将很好地运行在这些设备上。
跨界领域
已经有公司即将发布电视平台，Google TV 以及 Apple TV，Google 表示，他们的 TV 平台将支持 HTML5，我们不知道苹果的 TV 平台将支持什么，鉴于他们最近对 HTML5 的一系列炒作，很有可能也支持。另外一些电视盒厂商，如 Boxee 业已开始支持 HTML5，如果你想为 Boxee 开发应用，与其专门为它开发，不如直接使用 HTML5。
跨界领域拥有大量的平台，那些可以连接电脑的电视的数量在不断增长，我们已经可以在电视上全屏观看 YouTube，而备受欢迎的 Wii 则内置了 Opera。所有这些，都将借助 HTML，CSS 与 JavaScript。
HTML5 应用商店
Eric Meyer 讲到了 HTML5 应用程序问题，他将 HTML5 应用成为 Web Stack Apps， HTML5 要获得更多关注，可以建立 HTML5 应用商店。Chrome 正在这样做，而 Palm 已经有了一个这样的东西。
应用商店是很好的东西，开发者可以直接得到报酬，而无需像现在这样靠广告维持，同时，用户也将有一个地方去为他们的设备寻找程序。
HTML5 市场前景
HTML5 在快速成长，值得所有人密切关注，最近的一两年，会有很多公司进入这个领域，我们或许会在 Chrome 应用商店看到一些重量级厂商，我们也有希望在 Google TV 和 Apple TV 领域看到一些应用商店的出现。HTML5 会像传统的 Flash，Flex，Silverlight，Objective-C 那样，形成自己的生态系统。HTML5 将比 Flash, Flex, Silverlight 以及 Objective-C 更容易出现在任何设备。
对于年轻一代开发者，HTML5 应当是他们首选技能，HTML5 会形成很大的市场，很有很多公司需要这方面的人才。
延伸阅读
- How to Make an HTML5 iPhone App （如何设计 HTML5 iPhone 应用）
- Eric Meyer on CSS3 （Eric Meyer 谈 CSS3）
- The Anatomy of a Website （网站剖析）
- HTML5 到底是什么？
- HTML5： 实至名归还是言过其实？
- 关 于 HTML5，开发者可以期待什么？
- HTML 5 之后是什么？HTML
- 深入了解 HTML 5
- 让 JavaScript 拯救 HTML5 的离线存储
- Web Forms 2.0 行将被 HTML 5 代替
- HTML 5 正在改变 Web
- HTML 5 令人期待的 5 项功能
- 当 HTML 5 遇见 Google
- HTML 5 会为 Flash 和 Silverlight 送终吗？
- Firefox 访谈：OGG, HTML 5 与 Web 视频的未来
- XHTML 2: 出师未捷身先死, HTML 5:万千宠爱于一身
- HTML5 File API：把文件从桌面拖放到 Web
英文原文：
The State of HTML5 Apps
<!-- close: meta paragraph -->
We’re at the brink of shifts in the way we do things. The monks who have been toiling away on these new pieces of machinery are coming out of the monolith and starting to spread the word to the people. You might have seen my tutorial on creating an HTML5 iPhone app, highlighting the possibilities of open standards, client-side applications that leverage technologies we’ve traditionally used for websites and web apps.
Recently, Apple announced its HTML5 expose (however failed). Respected web design consultant and author, Eric Meyer, has started talking about the concept of Web Stacks — and we’re in a situation not unlike the beginnings of Ajax: A few people are already doing it, but we haven’t fully put it out in the open yet, and we certainly don’t know what to call what we’re doing.
My own HTML5 projects have been presenting their own questions, and I felt like I needed to take a step back and set a stage so that I could make sure that I understand where all these disparate pieces fit.
Let’s Talk Terminology
We need to address terminology. We could even be in for a good, old glossary at this point, but for now let’s just define the essentials. These aren’t set in stone either, by the way. I think there is going to be some jockeying for position here among buzzwords.
HTML5
What is HTML5? HTML5 is pretty well summed up by Mark Pilgrim.
"HTML5 is the next generation of HTML, superseding HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, and XHTML 1.1."
An interesting side note here is that we might see an "HTML6," but it sounds like they just want to drop the number idea, and instead, evolve the specs slowly over time. This will take a large reeducation, but makes sense.
One more from Pilgrim:
"The next version of HTML doesn’t have a name yet. In fact, it may never have a name because the working group is switching to an unversioned development model. Various parts of the specification will be at varying degrees of stability, as noted in each section. But if all goes according to plan, there will never be One Big Cutoff that is frozen in time and dubbed "HTML6." HTML is an unbroken line stretching back almost two decades, and version numbers are a vestige of an older development model for standards that never really matched reality very well anyway. HTML5 is so last week. Let’s talk about what’s next."
Applications
While there are plenty of good definitions — and you probably know what an application is — I think it’s worth rehashing here.
"Application software is computer software designed to help the user perform a particular task. Such programs are also called software applications"
HTML5 Applications (HTML5 App)
What is an HTML5 App? They are applications that fit the definition above (from a user’s perspective). They may not be in parity with other applications right now, but they are close enough that users won’t care. Sooner rather than later, we will be looking at capability parity as well.
From a developer’s perspective, they are applications written using HTML, JS, and CSS. They are applications leveraging open technologies and the evolving specifications of HTML and CSS that allow us to create software that can be used offline; things that used to need (at the very least) platforms like Silverlight or Flash.
Really, an HTML5 App is just web standards stuff. I guess you could throw in images there too, but really, the same things you have been using to build web pages for years are now being used to build applications that are more similar to a desktop or smart phone app than a website.
Open Source Paradigm Shift
Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media founder and open source proponent, was onto something:
"IBM’s commoditization of the basic design of the personal computer led to opportunities for attractive profits "up the stack" in software, new fortunes are being made up the stack from the commodity open source software that underlies the Internet."
Value moves up the stack, commoditization moves down the stack. I see HTML5 as a new, new layer.
The browser — even at this point — has become a commodity. As long as it adheres to a standard, I think it will do okay. People are going to be more worried about what HTML5 Apps they can run on their browser than what browser they are using.
People saw this early on too, and they thought, "Oh, so we can just put our OS into a browser!"
Well, no.
If we have learned anything, it’s that you can’t copy-paste from old mediums into new ones. Think about going from radio to TV. You can’t just point a camera at a man reading the news into a microphone. While there was an initial wow factor, I don’t think the full OS on the web thing will ever fully translate as much as HTML5 apps will translate into offline device use.
The Importance of Distribution Channels
No distribution channels like the Apple App Store and Android app store dominate. Then there are novel uses like Valve, the video game development and digital distribution company, is doing with game distribution, as well as Netflix with movies.
These distribution channels seem to be how users will organize themselves. Just like the OS was the binding piece of software for the desktop era, distribution channels will be the binding software for the "cloud" era.
How Did We Get Here?
There were — and still are — two big choke points.
Thank You, Web Standards
As much as we complain about fragmentation in the browser market, it’s not that bad. It can be better, but it’s not the end of the world. They all run HTML, JS, and CSS. Though each browser has its own things going on, by-and-large, we are doing okay. For example, you can always put some content on a webpage and have it delivered to the user and know that — in some fashion — the user will be able to see it.
Can you imagine if a company starts to think they are going to redefine the web from the bottom up and have complete control of the standards? "We’re not going to use HTTP, were not going to use HTML." It would be crazy! This fact gave standards bodies like W3C immense power to get browsers to stay on the same path.
There Aren’t a Lot of Layout Engines
The second part is that browsers are hard to make. Billions of web pages — lots with really bad markup. An individual developer isn’t going to stand a chance. Even past just parsing HTML: HTML moves fast — not fast for the majority of us — but fast for an individual developer.
Also, we choose to use HTML in new ways (like microformats) so even conventions can change midstream on browsers.
Then add on top of all that, the diverse ecosystem of computers and operating systems that a browser vendor has to keep up with, and it’s a recipe for a small club.
A small club is exactly what we have today. There are only four major layout engines that are the core of the market: Trident (IE), Gecko (Mozilla, Firefox), WebKit (Chrome, Safari), and Presto (Opera). Tons of browsers are built on top of those engines.
With such a small club, it’s easier to keep things inline and to keep track of what the other guy is doing. As much as people complain about IE, as far as I can tell, everyone talks to one another nowadays and IE9 looks like it’s going to be an upstanding member of this small club.
So here we are: Standards and browser vendors have created a choke point where pretty much anything you want to do one the web has to flow through them.
But, this also means that if you have a browser on a device, you have an HTML5 App environment. There is always going to be fragmentation, but that is just the way it’s going to be, and we can live with that for now.
Where Are We in Standardization?
There is an infamous estimate from Ian Hixie, the HTML5 editor:
"It is estimated, again by the editor, that HTML5 will reach a W3C recommendation in the year 2022 or later."
This freaks a lot of people out, but what I think it means is that finalizing the standards take a really long time. Browser vendors are free to start implementing this stuff now — and they have been (most everyone except Internet Explorer).
Feature Detection versus Browser Sniffing
This is where the feature detection (detecting what the user’s browser can do) versus browser sniffing (what browser the user is using) debate is coming from.
If you are an application developer, you are free to target "advanced functionality," but you should be doing feature detection and progressive enhancement.
This seems like a completely reasonable way to develop. It allows for the standards process to make sure it does the right thing while not holding up developers from fulfilling their users’ needs.
At any given time, there is going to be a hugely varied crop of browsers out there. (Using sites like caniuse and QuirksMode will help.)
Along with that, there are great feature detection libraries like Modernizer.
Then there is this Mark Pilgrim list as well: The All-In-One Almost-Alphabetical No-Bullshit Guide to Detecting Everything.
Offline APIs
These, I really think, were the first step in the HTML5 App movement, and they’re more then just storing data offline. What’s lost on many developers is that it’s great that we have localStorage, but how do we allow apps to do a fully offline boot? The Application Cache, of course.
Without the ability to store the source files and data offline, we wouldn’t have offline HTML5 Apps.
Like I said, we have a couple of offline storage mechanisms: a simple key/value storage system called localStorage and a SQL storage engine, which a few browsers support (but the SQL idea seems to be falling out of vogue).
The new hotness is Indexed Database — it has support from all major browser vendors.
Storing the app and the data offline are the baseline needs for any HTML5 App environment. Thankfully, we have support for these standards in WebKit browsers, Firefox, and it should be coming in IE9.
Even though IE support may not be all the way there, think about offline use: Where do we most need offline capabilities? When we’re on our mobile phone or netbook. Smart phones are leaning towards WebKit and many of the smart phones sold these days run WebKit.
So, the places where we need offline experiences the most does support offline experiences — and it doesn’t matter as much that IE doesn’t currently support offline storage.
W3C WebApps Working Group: The Next Step in HTML5 Apps
The W3C WebApps standards is another major area of work. Lots of APIs and other specifications around client-side HTML5 Apps are being developed.
Deployment and Packaging for Distribution
"For local/offline HTML5 Apps, W3C Widget packaging and configuration is the deployment mechanism of choice. It will become the standard because it’s already there, it makes sense, and it’s close to becoming a formal specification. Besides, many vendors are already hard at work implementing it.
W3C Widgets work on Vodafone S60 and Samsung phones, Opera desktop and mobile on any platform, the Bolt browser (a thin-client solution like Opera Mini), and Windows Mobile 6.5. While BlackBerry also supports them, right now they need a special Java wrapper as an interface to the BlackBerry OS. There’s no reason to assume that the W3C Widget march will stop here."
These are standards, just like any other. Essentially, if you have an HTML5 App, it’s going to contain some HTML, CSS, and JS (and maybe images and other media). The standard is just a way to help developers package their apps in such a way that they can be distributed in one whole package consistently and interoperably. If you’re familiar with PEAR, it’s a very similar concept (but for HTML5 offline apps instead of PHP classes).
You will probably need to fill out some extra metadata to explain how your app is put together. Then — in a platform that supports the standard — you can be sure that a user will be able to install your app. This starts to get interesting when start talking about "app stores," – we’ll get to that topic in a bit.
And the Rest of It
HTML5 has a bouquet of other cool APIs that HTML5 Apps can take advantage of. These APIs are going to give the app access to things like files, webcams, two-way communication with the server, and hardware-accelerated animations.
These APIs are going to get better, but they are just the icing on the cake when talking about HTML5 Apps.
And HTML5 Apps Can Be Used Where?
We have HTML5 Apps, they can live offline, they can deliver unique experiences, but where can they live?
Well, in the browser, duh.
HTML5 Apps can live in many places, but the first question is, "Does the device have a browser or a layout engine of some kind?" If it does, and the engine is modern, you can probably run an HTML5 App on it. But, essentially, I think this breaks out into three major areas of operation: desktop, mobile/small screen, and fuzzy.
Desktops
If you have a modern browser, you are good to go. If you’re using IE, you’ll need to pick up a modern browser like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, or at least, chrome frame.
Also, desktops are still really important. If you really want to piss some people off, start talking about how HTML5 Apps can target the desktop just like any other stack (e.g. Flash, Flex, and Objective-C) — HTML5 Apps are right there with you, with a little help.
Site-Specific Browsers
Site-Specific Browsers (SSB) take one site or app (like Gmail) and just turn it into an app. There’s no URL bar or other distractions. Some SSBs allow you to build a self-contained installable bundle and distribute it. This opens up the desktop app field immensely. Some things to check out: Prism, Fluid/Fluidium and NativeHost.
Mobile
Yes, this is the hotspot for HTML5 Apps. The iPhone has very sweet integration and your app can live on the home screen among all the other apps (see my tutorial on how to do this). The Android has support for the HTML5 APIs required, but not as nice of an integration.
Over the next few years, the number of devices that are running HTML5-capable browsers is going to skyrocket. Besides just the amount of devices, the different types of phones and phone OSs you might have to develop for, will also increase.
It is going to make a lot of sense for a portion of app developers to target HTML5 because it will be able to run on all of these devices, and you won’t need to worry about all the underlying disparate technologies.
Fuzzy Space
We already have two companies that will launch TV platforms: Google TV and (possibly) Apple TV. Google, during the Google TV keynote, said they would be support HTML5. We don’t know what Apple TV will support, but based on the recent HTML5 buzz it has been putting out, it’s likely they’ll also support it.
Even if they don’t support HTML5 Apps, other TV box people (like Boxee) already do. While roundabout, you can leverage HTML5 to make a Boxee app instead of needing to develop something specifically for Boxee.
Fuzzy spaces are the most open field right now and they offer a lot of playroom. TVs connected to computers are increasing in numbers, and there are full screen browsers for watching YouTube on your TV. The popular video gaming console, Wii, has a version of Opera on it.
The sky is the limit here. What matters is that "playing" in these spaces doesn’t require anything more than HTML, CSS, and JS.
HTML5 App Stores
Eric Meyer wrote about how we have the ability to make HTML5 Apps; he calls them Web Stack Apps (and we have for a while now) but the Apple App Store darling gets all the attention.
One thought is that for HTML5 Apps to get more press, their needs to be a HTML5 App store.
I think this idea has some merit, and I think someone is on the way with at least one. Chrome is planning one and Palm has one.
Any day now, we are going to see a fully independent app store spring up for HTML5 Apps. (Maybe I should save that idea for myself.)
Stores are great: Developers can get paid in ways other than displaying ads. This has always been hard on the web. Second, users now have a place where they can go and find apps regardless of what device they own.
It’s a distribution channel, which leads me to my wrap up.
Where to Put Your Money
If I were a business analyst, this is where I would put my buy/sell recommendations.
HTML5 is rapidly advancing. It will continue to evolve. It’s something everyone needs to keep a close eye on. Companies are going to start moving into this space in a big way this year and in the coming years. We are going to see some big numbers from the Chrome App Store. I also hope that we will see an app store on the Google TV, and Apple TV.
I started out thinking that HTML5 was the grand unifying theory, a culmination of my professional work that will take over everything, but what I have realized is that HTML5 is a player in the same ecosystem as traditional development stacks for applications like Flash, Flex, Silverlight, and Objective-C.
Not only is it a player, but it’s going to be competitive.
Flash, Flex, Silverlight and Objective-C can’t say they’re everywhere. Flash, for example, has just been unsupported on a very popular device, the iPhone.
On the other hand, HTML5 seems to be working its way into everything. This means that if I were a company looking at the long-term, I would be investing in HTML5.
Even if I couldn’t create as intense and as immersive experiences in HTML5 as in other platforms right now — Flash has been used on TV and in 3D animation before — I would still buy stock in it. The sheer number of audiences I would have access to with the least amount of development would make it easy on any company’s balance sheet.
We are always going to hear people say, "Well yeah, you can do that, but it won’t be an amazing experience on [device X]," and they are right, but that isn’t the goal for everyone, and I am not sure if that’s a bad thing.
For the young developers coming up right now: HTML5 is an A-level skill that needs to be developed into your skill set. It’s going to be marketable and it’s going to be in demand; it can be everywhere you want to go, and so companies will need to have some HTML5 App ninjas in their pockets.
I am recommending buying into HTML5 Apps. Buy big. Buy now.
Related Content
- How to Make an HTML5 iPhone App
- Eric Meyer on CSS3
- The Anatomy of a Website
- Related categories: Web Applications and Web Standards
About the Author
21 Comments
Scott Corgan
June 17th, 2010
What’s interesting, is that all this education on HTML doesn’t matter because the W3C needs to be replaced first. HTML5 is just a symptom of the problem. Oh, and IE too…
Alex Kessinger
June 17th, 2010
@Scott Corgan what should replace the w3c? The whatwg was an offshoot, that then got absorbed back by the w3c, so in essence HTML5 was built outside of the w3c.
wildanr05
June 17th, 2010
hope the “hotspot” doesn’t become “the only spot” for html5 in the future.
David Kaneda
June 17th, 2010
Great article and couldn’t agree more :) We just launched our own HTML5/CSS/JS mobile framework: http://www.sencha.com
manny
June 17th, 2010
great article
for an open web and standards!
adatapost
June 18th, 2010
Thank Alex. Excellent work, indeed.
Jordan Walker
June 18th, 2010
It would be nice after 12 some odd years if they finally nailed down the standard.
Backward Heroes
June 18th, 2010
With html 5 digital publishing kicks off again!
http://bhlog.com/posts/2010/6/18/digital-publishing-starts-now.html
Emanuele
June 18th, 2010
Hi, I suggest this link
http://www.vsizer.com/index.php?action=show&idComparison=16913
where you can vote, comment and find out what the web thinks about Mozilla Firefox vs Google Chrome
Jean-Philippe
June 19th, 2010
Thanks Alex,
Once again, i’m glad to read someone who shares my thoughts about the future of applications !
And +100 for web stores !
Alex Gibson
June 19th, 2010
I have some open source examples of HTML5 apps for mobile devices here: http://miniapps.co.uk
bruce
June 20th, 2010
“The new hotness is Indexed Database — it has support from all major browser vendors.”
well, Mozilla and Microsoft. Opera and the WebKits (sounds like a band name) use the W3C Web Database specification http://dev.w3.org/html5/webdatabase/
Matt Kreiling
June 20th, 2010
Thanks for advising new developers to put HTML5 in their toolbelt.
Great article.
One thing that occurs to me about html5 is that non-programmers, who have been using html a little, will feel that writing an app is in their reach.
When you put html5 next to Flash, Flex, Silverlight and Objective-C – it doesn’t seem to have all the baggage ie expertise needed to start playing around.
jeeremie
June 21st, 2010
Any day now, we are going to see a fully independent app store spring up for HTML5 Apps. (Maybe I should save that idea for myself.)
I think this year and the next we are going to see a lot of companies that will create web apps stores but I believe only one will stand out from crowd (Google?) and that one is going to make a lot of money.
Artyom Shalkhakov
June 21st, 2010
Sorry, I don’t share your opionion.
Does HTML5 bring anything new to the table? I guess not.
Developing a web app requires plenty of tinkering. What do we have right now, as web developers? Inextensible standards and buggy implementations.
I think “newer” doesn’t imply “better”, especially in this case.
James Pearce
June 21st, 2010
My goal with http://whitherapps.com is to show that some native iPad client apps can be pixel-perfectly indistinguishable from a web-based equivalent.
(Confident so far ;-) )
您还没有登录,请您登录后再发表评论
