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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has launched a new logo for HTML5, the fast emerging Web standard for Web developers.
On Jan. 18, the W3C introduced its new logo program for HTML5 to promote the technology and to encourage developers to use it. Despite concern by the W3C itself in recent months that some parts of the specification may not be ready for prime time, the logo program also highlights the portions of the spec that are ready and in use today.
According to the W3C’s HTML5 logo page, the logo “stands strong and true, resilient and universal as the markup you write. It shines as bright and as bold as the forward-thinking, dedicated web developers you are. It’s the standard’s standard, a pennant for progress. And it certainly doesn’t use tables for layout.”
In addition, of the technology, the W3C logo page said: “HTML5 is the cornerstone of the W3C’s open web platform; a framework designed to support innovation and foster the full potential the web has to offer. Heralding this revolutionary collection of tools and standards, the HTML5 identity system provides the visual vocabulary to clearly classify and communicate our collective efforts.”
The site provides an HTML5 logo gallery and other support for developers, as well as place to purchase HTML5 gear such as T-shirts and pajamas. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the goods will go to the development of the W3C HTML5 Test Suite.
Meanwhile, in a Jan. 18 blog post, Jean Paoli, general manager of interoperability strategy at Microsoft, said, “A logo with a consistent visual design is an important indication of the growing maturity of many components of HTML5. As developer and site owners see this logo across the web, we hope it will signal that while there is still a lot of work to do until all the HTML5 technologies are ready, real sites are starting to take advantage of them today.”
Microsoft has widely touted that it is implementing HTML5 in its Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser.
“With IE9 and HTML5 Labs – which gives developers a stable foundation to build their experiences on IE9 knowing that their sites will continue to work with build updates – we are making this line clearer to encourage adoption rather than waiting,” Paoli said. “In IE9, we have put the site-ready parts of HTML5 that can be used today without worrying about the site breaking as the specification changes.”
Paoli added that “HTML5 offers tremendous improvements in interactivity, graphics, typography and more. One question we often hear is “When should my site start embracing HTML5?” Our answer is simple. Today.”
However, Paoli warns that it is important to recognize that HTML5 is not just one technology, but rather that it encompasses a broad set of technologies. “So, while there are some parts that are very stable and are ready to be used in real sites today, there are also some parts that are still changing rapidly,” he added.
Moreover, Paoli said on building prototypes “for unstable specifications where we can iterate quickly and freely as we make it clear to developers not to include these in sites as yet. Microsoft’s Interoperability Bridges & Labs Center has started publishing prototype implementations of unstable specifications where significant change is expected.”