Another version of the markup language is out and all of you must be waiting for your ‘what’s’ and ‘how’s’ to be straight-lined. Since the day web started, many versions of HTML have been created and the most recent one is HTML 5. The web is growing at a speed faster than anyone has ever thought of. Its usability is immense and the great minds of the world do not stop churning their skills to make it more seamless and flexible for an incredibly large population that is accessing it every single second.

What is HTML 5?

Simply put, it is just another markup language that you can use from now on to structure and present your language. The W3C HTML 5 recommendation was released on 28^th October, 2015. This is the fifth revision of the HTML standard since the inception of World Wide Web in 1989.

So, is it just an update or..?

You must be thinking whether it is just an update or are there any major additions that have the potential to improve overall web experience. Well, read on to find out.

What is new in it?

A new version obviously means there will be some major additions and deletions. Well, here are a few elements that you will find new in this version of HTML.

1.     The DOCTYPE declaration is pretty simple.

2.     New semantic elements such as <header>, <footer>, <article>, <section>

3.     New graphic elements like <canvas> and <svg>

4.     New multimedia elements: <audio> and <video>

5.     New form control attributes like date, time, range, number, and calendar

There are some APIs too, such as Geolocation, Drag and Drop, Local Storage, Application Cache, Web Workers, etc.

Woes, if any!

With all the benefits, there is one thing thought that might leave you not fully satisfied - the date input type. In general, a date input type should enable a developer to provide the user with a simple and easily comprehensible method of entering a date on a certain web page. Sadly, this input type doesn’t function in its full potential.

Will it help improve my SEO scores?

Like always, this release was not going to get away rumor-free. Any new update to the web and people start coming to conclusions about how it can affect a search engine’s ranking behavior. With HTML 5, it is being said that it doesn’t help in SEO ranking. Well, many big companies have started using it for their sites and they are finding a slight improvement. With better schemantic elements, it becomes easier for Google and other search engines to work out the intent of your web pages.

The answer to the question, therefore, is ‘yes’. It does help improve your SEO scores.

Who does it benefit the most?

It can benefit every website, and most importantly, the ecommerce ones. With the new structural elements, it has now become easier to display the pages correctly in a browser.

HTML 5 is a fabulous markup language that is helping transform the web, thereby making it better. So next time you think about how to start a blog site, make sure that the language you are opting for is HTML 5. We won’t suggest you discard the coding your site has now just for the sake of redesigning it on HTML 5. It won’t be worth it. However, any new website, especially an ecommerce must start with it.

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