HTML5: The new language

The current HTML standard 4.01 is ten years old. In this time, the Internet has become rich with multimedia and interactivity. So it’s definitely time for change! Videos are really popular on the web, so it should come as no surprise that sites like YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo are among the first few sites to integrate the new HTML5 standard. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, the language in which the basics of the Internet are written. The standard specifies rules according to which this happens. Since Web browser engines need to be adapted to this, four of the big browser manufacturers (not including Microsoft), developed HTML5 comprising of numerous new functions that help close the long gap between being a document-oriented markup language as it has traditionally been, to becoming an application-oriented one, as the modern web demands. Many can now dream of a revolution on the web. Videos without Flash The core of HTML5 is better integration of multimedia content. So far, browser plug-ins such as Adobe’s Flash Player have been needed to play video and music. But these consume resources, are prone to crashes, and most importantly, are a safety risk. Flash, in particular, allows a lot of malware to creep into a PC. In spite of this, almost all big websites use it to incorporate video, interactive applications, and other imaginative content. HTML5 intends to make a difference here - the new