Make sure to code my site in HTML5 | Hacker News Reader

Make sure to code my site in HTML5

brolik.com

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Everyone Knows It’s All About HTML5, Right? The vast amount of information available on the Internet and the increasing tech-savvy of today’s business owners is fostering a new understanding of web design, application development, social media, and more. At Brolik, we love an informed consumer and really love an informed client. Recently, though, we’ve been getting asked a very interesting question and may have a surprising answer. I’ve heard other developers complain about the question, and I’ve heard business development folks explain the answer incorrectly. Do you know what it means to ask: “Can you please code my new website in HTML5?”

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I'd have to agree. Our tiny startup is interested in adding some HTML5 structure using Modenizer etc but the main problem is the associated effort for not much return yet. It's really a balancing act for time - unfortunately IE7 and IE8 [and gasp IE6] are still hugely prevelant - so it's still 'the same old same old' by having to detect browsers and support multiple scenarios for HTML4 or HTML5. At this stage, until IE7 and IE8 die out "more" - which we certainly hope is in Q4 by end of this year - we will seriously look at integrating HTML5.

It's a real - "improve existing server-side code / optimisation and feature bundle" vs. "add HTML5 support where needed". For us, and this is only IMHO, the former is currently winning. By Q4 or even Q1-Q2 2012 - we'll look at this.

Thoughts?

You hit the nail on the head. It's a balancing act based on time. While there are some nice bells and whistles with HTML5, it is not yet widely supported enough to completely commit to the advancements that it brings to the table. While, we will be using HTML5 when launching our new site in the next few weeks, we will also be spending a bunch of time testing how the code degrades in the older browsers. For now, we patiently wait. And keep our fingers crossed for the ultimate demise of IE.

In your situation, the benefit of improving the back end certainly outweighs the small payoff that HTML5 would bring to the front end. So yes, store it in the back of your head and revisit it soon.

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