The W3C’s Mike[tm] Smith (AKA @sideshowbarker) is the man with his head in the W3C validation markup checking tool source code; he makes the magic happen.  Questions were asked for the HTML5 Doctor reader’s delight and edification. Russian Translation: Не проверив HTML5-кода, не суйся в воду — с Майком™ Смитом First off tell us a bit about what you do and […]

ARIA (WAI-ARIA if you want to be formal) is a set of attributes that you can add to HTML elements. These attributes communicate role, state and property semantics to assistive technologies via the accessibility APIs implemented in browsers. The W3C HTML specification provides information about which ARIA attributes are allowed to be used on each […]

The definitions of the blockquote and cite elements in the HTML specification have recently been updated. This article explains what the changes mean for developers.

Steve Faulkner – invariably prefixed by the honorific “The Mighty” by those who know him – is Australian living in London with his wife and two kids. He works for The Paciello Group, a well-known web accessibility consultancy, and is a co-editor of the HTML5 spec at W3C Today, we’re pleased to announce that he’s […]

In the first article in this series we looked at the history of HTML5 forms and many of the new attributes available to us. In this second and final part of the series, we’ll look at the new input types available in HTML5. As we’ll see, these new features will go a long way toward making your life easier while delivering a delightful user experience. The best thing about all this? You can start using them now.

When building web sites and web applications, we often need to provide essential feedback to a user informing them of the progress of their request or task, be it uploading a file, playing a video, or importing data. HTML5 makes life easier for us by defining an element whose sole purpose is just that: the […]

Hot on the heels of our interview with Robin Berjon, editor of HTML5 at W3C, over the weekend I interviewed Ian Hickson, editor of HTML “The Living Standard” at WHATWG and, arguably, the most influential individual working on the Web today. Hickson, known as “Hixie”, works for Google and previously worked for Opera (my employer) and Netscape.

Playing cached audio for offline use on iOS Safari has long been a challenge that has proved to be mission impossible. But with the advent of the WebKit-only, it is now finally achievable — although you still need to jump through a few hoops.

We’re back again to answer some more of your questions. This time we’ve included a bonus answer so you’ve got six to go at, rather than the usual 5. In this post cover a XMLHttpRequest query, how to define sections, understanding outlines, what markup to use for a social bar, using HTML5 with a legacy site and hidden headings for accessibility.

It’s time we had “the talk”. I could get you a book or recommend some sites from Dr Mike’s special bookmarks folder, but the best way to make sure you get the right idea is to do it myself. I’m talking about HTML semantics. Understanding the thinking behind the naming of elements will help your markup shine.