Learning HTML5: Getting started

ronan.sprake — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:21:12 +0000

The HTML5 working group doesn’t do PR. This became evident last year in the negative blog posts after Ian Hickson (lead editor) set 2022 as the target date for a final proposed recommendation. Unfortunately, this was misenterpreted as the date HTML5 would be ready for use, which isn’t true at all. Web specifications have a notoriously slow moving approval process, where drafts are proposed and discussed over many years. However, as CSS2.1 has shown, the technology can be used well before final approval is reached.

Since the HTML5 specification is subject to change and is lacking support in IE, I wouldn’t recommend getting too carried away with things, but it’s worth learning the basics and knowing the useful elements. The HTML5 glossary is a good place to start.

You need to use the HTML5 shiv technique (outlined in this earlier post) which consists of a Javascript snippet that enables HTML5 element styling in IE. The main thing to remember before you get started, is that there is currently no way to style nested HTML5 elements in IE – quite a major restriction – but this shouldn’t stop you from getting started with HTML5-inspired layouts.

Using the minimal HTML5 doctype () you can validate as-you-go with the W3 validator.

Talking of inspiration, that’s the next step – check out the sites already experimenting with HTML5, there are some nice real-world examples showcased in the HTML5 gallery

Styling HTML5 elements in IE

ronan.sprake — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:14:44 +0000

A quick tip on how to enable HTML5 elements such as

and

in Internet Explorer. I’m afraid it does require Javascript:

document.createElement("section")

This workaround for all unrecognised HTML5 elements is available in the form of a tiny 352 bite JS file, from Google Code (uploaded here for your convenience!)

If only it were that easy!

There is one major caveat to this tip, in that I haven’t yet found a way to nest HTML5 elements reliably. This means that there is currently no way to make IE understand this markup:

As usual, where Internet Explorer is concerned, things are even more convoluted. IE recognises the new elements as XML rather than HTML. This shouldn’t be a major problem, but knowing this helps to avoid potential .nodeName headaches!

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Learning HTML5: Getting started

Styling HTML5 elements in IE