Draft of HTML 5 published

W3C published an early draft of HTML 5, the first major revision of the markup language for the Web since December 1997.

The 500-strong HTML Working Group that is creating HTML 5 says it will be open and royalty-free, supporting rich Web content and applications. The group includes representatives from W3C Members ACCESS, AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera.

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and author of the first version of HTML believes the standard is very important. “I am glad to see that the community of developers, including browser vendors, is working together to create the best possible path for the Web. To integrate the input of so many people is hard work, as is the challenge of balancing stability with innovation, pragmatism with idealism.”

The Web has developed rapidly since HTML 4 was first published in December 1997. This is reflected for example by the fact that web sites are no longer static collections of pages but media-rich communities. There is a demand for a new standard that allows users to create Web applications that interoperate across desktop and mobile platforms.

W3C launched the HTML Working Group in March 2007 and it has already published a set of HTML design principles, which include: ensuring support for existing content, codifying widespread practice, separating concerns (markup from presentation), and enabling universal access.

New features for authors in HTML 5 include Application Programming Interfaces for drawing two-dimensional graphics, embedding and controlling audio and video content, maintaining persistent client-side data storage, and for enabling users to edit documents and parts of documents interactively.

The HTML 5 specification aims to improve interoperability and reduce software costs by giving precise rules not only about how to handle all correct HTML documents but also how to recover from errors. This is the first version of HTML developed under W3C's Royalty-Free Patent Policy.

In addition to the browser vendors listed above, the following W3C Members are helping to shape the HTML 5 specification: BEA Systems, Inc.; Betfair Limited; Boeing; Cisco; Disruptive Innovations; Dreamlab Technologies AG; France Telecom; Hewlett-Packard; IWA-HWG; Mitsue-Links Co., Ltd.; mTLD Top Level Domain Limited; Openwave Systems Inc.; Oxford Brookes University; PicoForms; Queensland University of Technology; Stanford University; University of Innsbruck; and the U.S. Library of Congress.

W3C welcomes feedback from the public on the first public working draft and encourages more authoring tool developers to join the HTML Working Group to ensure that HTML 5 meets their needs.