HTML5 is currently being developed as the next major revision of HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the core markup language of the World Wide Web. HTML5 is the proposed next standard for HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and DOM Level 2 HTML. It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. In common usage, HTML5 may also refer to the additional use of CSS3, as both technologies are under development in parallel.
Rivals slam Apple's HTML5 claimsApple has been promoting HTML5 as an alternative to Adobe's Flash, as the two firms battle it over Apple's refusal to allow Flash to work on its iPhone and iPad.
HTML5 Support
The numbers were a little higher for HTML5 Video tag support, with 22% of respondents saying they already supported the video tag or will support it by the end of 2010, and another 27% saying they would support it by the end of 2011. But this support won't be exclusive; the respondents intend to support the HTML5 Video tag with fallback to Flash, Silverlight, or other plug-in based technology, suggesting that, as Ozer writes, these organizations aren't running away from Flash or Silverlight so much as they're running towards HTML5.
In fact, despite the Apple-fueled anti-Flash hype, most of the respondents reported they were happy with their current video technology, whether Flash or Silverlight, and only 1% rated Flash as "poor" for performance and only 2% rated it as "poor" for stability, security, or end-user satisfaction.
Note that, despite some confusion in the marketplace, HTML5 Video tag support does not equal iPad support. "As an example, go to the Theora page on Wikipedia.org," says Ozer. "The video file won't play on an iPad, yet Wikipedia claims to be HMTL5 compatible. VP8 will only complicate matters since lots of sites may claim to be HTM5 compatible via that codec. Basically, until there's a single supported HTML5 codec that the iPad also supports, they're not the same.
Poll
