Member Avatar for yangyang

Did some tests and seems all the HTML5 tags / features work pretty well across all modern browsers except in IE6 for whom you have to use a little JS to make it style specific HTML5 elements.

It's easy but still takes quite some time to shape your skills / remember all the tags, etc.. I think I will not adopt it so soon in any foreseeable future as I have yet to discover any substantial benefits it offers.

It's disrupting.

  • 6 Contributors
  • 9 Replies
  • 268 Views
  • 9 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by baabroz1

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: yes — for most new projects use modern HTML (the HTML Living Standard, commonly called “HTML5”). The spec is stable and the APIs and elements people care about are supported in current engines; the real blocker today is audience, not the language itself. If your analytics still show meaningful IE6/IE8 traffic, treat that as a project requirement; otherwise HTML5 gives clearer semantics, native media and input types, and modern web APIs that reduce bespoke JS. (developer.mozilla.org)

For the IE worry that comes up in this thread (good catch by and ), there are lightweight, proven strategies: feature-detect and progressively enhance with Modernizr, and use the HTML5 shiv to let older IE recognize and style new semantic tags. Apply those shims only when your analytics show old-IE visits. Modernizr is about detection and conditional loading; html5shiv is the small shim that historically enabled IE6–8 styling for new elements. (modernizr.com)

A minimal pattern to start every page (doctypes first, then shims for legacy IE) looks like this:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <!--[if lt IE 9]>
    <script src="/scripts/html5shiv.js"></script>
  <![endif]-->
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">
  <title>Project</title>
</head>
<body>
  <header>…</header>
  <main>…</main>
  <footer>…</footer>
</body>
</html>

Keep the shiv local (or behind conditional comments), include it after your stylesheets, and only add heavy polyfills when needed. Use the simple HTML5 doctype to force standards mode. (developer.mozilla.org)

Practical checklist: (1) check real user analytics first (don’t assume percentages), (2) use <!doctype html> and semantic elements, (3) add Modernizr + targeted polyfills only for uncovered features, (4) provide server-side or simple fallback paths for critical functionality, and (5) test the specific browsers your audience uses. For most public and consumer-facing work today, adopting HTML5 is the pragmatic, long-term choice; for locked enterprise intranets, factor legacy support into scope and budget.

Recommended Answers

All 9 Replies

Member Avatar for Devoted Hosting

I still design/code to ensure maximum compatibility with IE6 - some of my sites still have as much as 25% of visitors using it.

I think that within a few years I'll *start* to use HTML5, but at the moment I see no major reason to use it just yet.

Member Avatar for Troy III

Did some tests and seems all the HTML5 tags / features work pretty well across all modern browsers except in IE6 for whom you have to use a little JS to make it style specific HTML5 elements.

It's easy but still takes quite some time to shape your skills / remember all the tags, etc.. I think I will not adopt it so soon in any foreseeable future as I have yet to discover any substantial benefits it offers.

It's disrupting.

Well, of course not!

Member Avatar for laura_ci

I'd love to use HTML 5 in my next project, it does so many things which we currently rely on PHP and JavaScript and such things to do, but as far as I remember IE 8 STILL hasn't caught up with all the other players. And unfortunately because that's what must people use, simply because they don't know any better, I'm afraid I'll have to stick to HTML 4 for a while.

But that's interesting about adding a bit of Jscript to get it to work in IE 6, mayhaps you would post some info or links about this?

Member Avatar for Troy III

Like what do you know about HTML4.01 that you would love to use HTML5 instead.
What are the extras that HTML5 offering to us and that IE5 didn't already (like a century ago)?

Member Avatar for laura_ci

Like what do you know about HTML4.01 that you would love to use HTML5 instead.
What are the extras that HTML5 offering to us and that IE5 didn't already (like a century ago)?

Hey I'm glad you've got our own opinions and ways of working and stuff, but I really don't like your style. Do you even work with REAL people?

Instead of acting like a know-it-all and FORCING your opinion on people, why don't you try EXPLAINING why your opinion is the right one. Because the way you're behaving, your just making people like myself, who have a different opinion from your own, dig our heels in...and probably annoying you even more!

Personally I can't believe that your offering IE5 as a reason for not using HTML5. Does anyone even use IE5 any more? Perhaps you should do some reading on HTML5 to see what your missing out on.

I'm guessing my mentioning IE was a sore point for you. I understand that there's plenty of people who are hard-core followers of Microsoft, but from my own experience of working, I have to spend half my time fixing sites to work in IE because it has its own warped way of working.

But, hey, that's only my opinion and everyone has their own ways of working.

Member Avatar for Troy III

The problem with 'your opinion" is that you don't have an opinion.

Member Avatar for laura_ci

My 'opinion' is that your an idiot! What's the matter, did you not get hugged enough as a child?

You know what, I'm bored of you now.

Troll!

Member Avatar for Ezzaral

Keep it on topic and leave the personal attacks at the door.

Member Avatar for baabroz1

At the end of the day, the doctype alone won't make your pages HTML5-consistent. It's truly dependent upon the program to do this. Actually, you can utilize one of those two more seasoned doctypes with new HTML5 components on the page and the page will render equivalent to it would on the off chance that you utilized the new doctype.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.