Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the main markup language for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser. HTML5 is the fifth and current version of the HTML standard. It is the latest evolution of the standard that defines HTML with new elements, attributes and behaviors and a larger set of technologies that allows more diverse and powerful websites and applications. It is a markup language for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web and a core technology of the Internet. It extends, improves and rationalizes the markup available for documents, and introduces markup and application programming interfaces (APIs) for complex web applications.
Features of HTML5
Offline Storage
HTML5, web pages can store data locally within the user’s browser. Earlier, this was done with cookies. However, Web Storage is more secure and faster. The data is not included with every server request, but used only when asked for. It is also possible to store large amounts of data, without affecting the website’s performance. The data is stored in key/value pairs, and a web page can only access data stored by itself. HTML5 Web Storage defines two types of key-value storage types. They are as follows:
- Local Storage
It stores data with no expiration date. The data will not be deleted when the browser is closed and will be available the next day, week or year.
- Session Storage
It stores data for one session. It is per page per window and is limited to the lifetime of the window. The session storage object is equal to the local storage object, except that it stores the data for only one session. The data is deleted when the user closes the browser window.
Multimedia
It contains audio and video.
Graphics
It contains canvas and SVG. The HTML5 <canvas> tag is used to draw graphics, on the fly, via scripting (usually JavaScript). It is used to draw a rectangle, a gradient rectangle, a multi color rectangle, and some multicolor text. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. It is used to define vector based graphics for the web. SVG graphics do not lose any quality if they are zoomed or resized. Every element and attribute in SVG files can be animated. SVG images can be created and edited with any text editor.
Semantics and Markup
A semantic element clearly describes its meaning to both the browser and developer. It clearly defines different parts of webpage.
CSS3
HTML5 cannot provide animation within web pages. CSS3 functionality is necessary for animating HTML elements.
HTML5 is designed for error handling. In contrast to HTML 4, the HTML5 specification gives detailed rules for lexing and parsing, with the intent that compliant browsers will produce the same results when parsing incorrect syntax. New parsing rules, new attributes and global attributes that can be applied for every element makes HTML5 more standard.