Jul 8

Written by: Javier Callico
7/8/2011 

A couple of days ago I finished reading “HTML5: Up and Running” and I wanted to share my thoughts about this book.

This is one of these books that you can read in one sitting, it’s very well written and full of examples.

If you are a programmer, web designer or somehow familiar with the HTML markup language this book will help you discover the new features in HTML5 but not only that, it will also provide useful examples about how to detect HTML5 features in today’s browsers and will enable you to start taking advantage of these features while remaining compatible with other (should I say older) browsers which are far behind when it comes to HTML5 support.

If, on the other hand, you are a technology enthusiast and have heard everybody using HTML5 as a buzzword this book will show you what the fuzz is all about.

One of the things that became really clear to me after reading this book was that one of the most highlighted features in HTML5, video support, is far from solved, and the battle between the different video containers and codecs for web supremacy is far from over. I was also not fully aware of all the licensing issues surrounding the popular H.264 (MPEG-4) video format.

HTML5 features like Local Storage, Canvas and Web Workers are going to forever change the way we write and use browser based application nowadays not to mention the fact that by using the new semantic HTML elements and microdata our documents are going to be better read and interpreted by other readers and applications allowing us to further act on the information contained on them.

HTML5 is finally here, you better be prepared, but don’t expect that by the end of this book you will be an expert, this is just an introduction to the new world of possibilities that HTML5 is bringing to us.