HTML5 – Some Key Resources for Developers
As HTML5 matures the number of related resources is on the increase. Here’s a few of my favourite resources that I find myself coming back to.
HTML5Doctor is a comprehensive resource that produces regular articles on all aspects of HTML5, both semantics and APIs. They also encourage ‘patients’ to submit any problems they may be having with their ask the HTML5 Doctor area. Disclaimer: I write there occasionally so you may not believe me when I tell you it is absolutely the best HTML5 resource ever!
HTML5Rocks is another great resource, although an ‘open-sourced community driven’ web-site many of the authors work for Google and so buyer-beware, some of the demos will only work in Chrome especially those concerned with the Web Audio API.
Audio is one of the areas of HTML5 that I’m especially interested in and one that is evolving apace. If you are interested in audio a nice place to keep up with the goings on is the regulary updated HTML5Audio.org.
There are also a couple of good resources produced by browser makers. The Mozilla Developer Network hosts a series of HTML5 cross-browser demos and articles and Opera hosts a series of browser-neutral articles at dev.opera.
If you want to explore and tinker about with HTML5 demos, a good place to start is the HTML5Demos website You can filter by type and all content is Creative Commons licensed. You can even fork the site on GitHub.
I’d encourage those of you interested in web based 3D graphics to check out Mr Doobs’ excellent WebGL demos, another great place to get your visual cortex tickled is AWWWARDS, some really cool things happening in that area and as WebGL gets rolled out on all devices certainly something to keep an eye on.
There’s a couple of resources I could recommend for those interested in browser support of HTML5 APIs. CanIuse gives a comprehensive run-down of past, present and future browser support. HTML5 Test can also be very useful for testing a particular browser’s capabilities.
Not all browsers support all the HTML5 features and for those that don’t you may consider using a polyfill. You can find a comprehensive list of Polyfills on Modernizr’s GitHUb account here and tools like Modernizr itself and the comprehensive HTML5BoilerPlate to help you fill in the gaps.
As a footnote I wanted to mention Dive into HTML5 which is a nicely written resource by Mark Pilgrim – it’s well presented and worth reading through if you want a general feel for HTML5. However HTML5 is a living standard and this resource hasn’t been updated since 2011 so some of the information may be slightly out-of-date.
So that’s my list of resources and tools that I’ve regularly used since I’ve started using HTML5, no doubt there are others out there and I love to hear about them!
This blog post has been written by Mark Boas
“Mark makes, writes about and promotes new and open web technologies. Co-founder of Happyworm - a small web agency and makers of the jPlayer media framework, he enjoys pushing the limits of the browser using HTML5 and JavaScript. Though a generalist at heart, Mark spends much of his time playing with web based media and real-time communications and is actively involved in helping news organisations world-wide as part of the Knight-Mozilla OpenNews initiative. A lover of all things audio, his passion often drives his work and is currently enjoying the challenge of taking audio ‘somewhere new’ with his Hyperaudio experiments. You can follow Mark on Twitter.”
