Technology Review (03/10/09) Naone, Erica
HTML 5 will make the latest high-bandwidth Internet applications run even better, and could help lead the way to an application-enabled Web. Currently, Web applications are limited because Web browsers were not designed to run full desktop-style programs. For example, most browsers can only run a single piece of JavaScript code at a time, which limits the functionality of Web applications. Furthermore, different browsers react differently to existing Web standards. HTML 5 is designed to solve these problems. "We're trying to find ways for people to be able to take the live, programmable documents that make up the Web and start integrating them with all these other pieces outside the scope of the browser," says the Mozilla Foundation's Christopher Blizzard. World Wide Web Consortium HTML working group member Michael Smith says the most important part of HTML 5 has been creating specifications to ensure that different browsers perform more tasks in the same manner. To help browsers run demanding Web applications, HTML 5 has a feature called worker threads, which allows a browser to manage heavier computations by running JavaScript in the background while the user interacts with the application. HTML 5 also features new video and audio capabilities. The Canvas feature enables developers to create HTML graphics that mach graphics built using Adobe's Flash software. HTML 5 also places a greater emphasis on enabling Web applications to work offline.
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