

An Honest Open Discussion on Web Standards and HTML 5 - radley
http://www.davidtucker.net/2009/06/19/an-honest-open-discussion-on-web-standards-and-html-5/

======
enomar
> HTML5 won’t be an option for traditional developers until 90%+ of the web is
> using an HTML5 capable browser

Sure, you can't _depend_ on Y functionality until X% of your audience uses a
browser with that capability. But that doesn't mean you can't use it. It's
called progressive enhancement. Everyone gets some base functionality, and
those using the right browsers get an enhanced experience. It's a technique
used by javascript developers all the time.

And it's really the only way to move the web forward. There has to be some
incentive for people to upgrade their browsers. We can't just say, "please
upgrade so we can start writing some cool sites for you."

~~~
SamAtt
I completely agree.

In fact I'm not sure what his argument really is here. Right now Flash gets
updated because people run into a website that says "you need a newer version
of Flash for this" and they want the content enough to push the update button.

So when HTML5 browsers start coming out and those IE6 users run into sites
that say "you need a newer version of [insert browser here] to view this" I
find it hard to believe those same people won't click the "update" button on
their browser if they want the content bad enough.

That means, as time goes by, HTML5 browsers should have around the same
penetration that Adobe Flash has.

------
ZeroGravitas
It's good that Flash developers know so little about the web. They're not
going to know what's hit them.

He's not clicked that google gears is a plugin that implements html5 in older
browsers, even as he calls it out for cheating by doing exactly that.

I also look forward to the irony of delivering (the technically superb) Ogg
Vorbis audio to IE via Flash.

------
enomar
> The time required to allow for users of older browsers to upgrade, can add
> another 5+ years to the process.

There are a couple historical reasons why we have so many users on non-modern
browsers. First, people wrote a bunch of apps without regard for standards
because IE was so dominant. Second, browsers (IE) were not easy to update.

Both of these are no longer reality. I believe that once we get people off of
IE 6, it will be much easier to keep people upgraded.

------
enomar
> Every new feature in HTML 5 (except maybe 2) were added because developers
> wanted functionality already available in a plugin.

Right. No one is saying plugins don't have their place. They're a great way to
get things you need right now without browser vendors having to provide it for
you.

There are _many_ reasons why it's better to eventually move this functionality
into standards though. And I see no arguments for keeping functionality
indefinitely in a plug-in.

