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.

With a number of HTML5 books now available, we’re starting to see them cover more specific areas of HTML5. HTML5 Multimedia: Develop and Design, written by fellow HTML5 Doctor Ian Devlin, focusses on native multimedia in HTML5. Read my review below to find out what it’s all about. Disclosure: Ian is a friend of mine […]

While I was researching HTML5 multimedia-related topics for my book, HTML5 Multimedia: Develop and Design, I noticed a number people struggling to get HTML5 audio and video working in different scenarios. From Twitter to Stack Overflow, the same questions kept cropping up, so I’ve put together a list of the most common problems (and some not so common) and their solutions (if there is one!).

Guest doctor Mark Boas returns with a follow up to his 2009 article Native Audio in the Browser, which covers the basics of HTML5 audio. Read the original if you want to get a feel for the <audio> element and associated API. If not, get comfortable and dive deep to learn about the current state of play for HTML5 audio.

We’re back with another round of patient questions about HTML5. In this article, we’ll discuss using multiple <h1>s, audio codecs, microformats, post bylines, and the <time> element.

After a while on the fringes of our collective consciousness, HTML5 is finally getting the attention it deserves. The development community (as typified by the SuperFriends) has come together to debate practical elements of the spec, argue over the inclusion of controversial elements, and assess the timeframe over which we can unleash HTML5 in the wild.

Until very recently the ability to play any type of audio within a browser involved using Adobe Flash or other browser plugins. Although Adobe's Flash player is without doubt the most ubiquitous of these, most developers and designers would agree it is better not to rely on a plugin at all. Now thanks to HTML 5 and the browsers that implement its audio tag we can play audio natively within the browser.