For those of you who don’t already know, HTML5 is the latest specification for HTML. Some people have claimed that it is the revolution that the web has been waiting for and has been in need of for a long time. This is a valid point considering the previous version of HTML, named HTML 4.01, was introduced way back in 1998. HTML5 has brought about a number of changes and has been backed by a number of large companies such as Apple and Adobe. These are the main reasons why many are stating that HTML5 is the future and more people should jump on the bandwagon. However, despite the updates to HTML that HTML5 has brought, and the backing from influential corporations, it hasn’t yet been embraced by everyone. There are still a large number of people who have stuck with using the previous version of HTML. The reasoning behind doing this is because many claim that the old HTML is still better. By comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each version this article will determine which is better: HTML vs HTML5.
HTML vs HTML5 A Comparison
Multimedia Support
Both types of HTML allow video and audio clips to be played, which is to be expected as the large majority of websites contain some form of multimedia. However HTML5 has the upper hand regarding this as unlike the past version of HTML it does not require any third parties to display either audio or video files. Instead all you need to do is insert <audio> or <video> tags. Due to how straightforward it is to do – on this front HTML5 definitely comes out on top.
Cleanest Code?
Lots of people judge code on how clean and easy to read it is; generally the cleaner the code the higher people tend to rate it. When it comes to comparing HTML with HTML it is pretty hard to do as they are extremely similar. However, we can’t stand on the fence on this issue as our aim is to find out which type is best. Therefore it has been determined that HTML5 has the cleaner code, but only by the smallest of margins. Certain things are just much easier to do in HTML5 and don’t take up half as much code.
Browser Compatibility
There’s no point in having code if it can’t be used, so with HTML it is crucial that it is compatible with most of the popular browsers. The previous version of HTML has been around for 15 years so every browser is fully compatible with it. But HTML5, being a pretty recent development, isn’t compatible in all browsers – but most of the newest browsers do support it. This isn’t a huge setback for HTML5 due to the number of popular browsers that support it but it is a setback. Because of this standard HTML reigns victorious on this aspect.
Glitches & Errors
The previous version of HTML has been around for a long time now. Because of this all the errors and glitches are known and most of its flaws have been discovered. Yet, HTML5 is a fairly new development and the same cannot be said about it. Any glitches and errors are still there to be discovered. There have already been a couple of articles saying that there are more security issues with HTML5 compared to HTML so who knows what is going to arise. Due to this HTML is the winner.
The Verdict
HTML and HTML5 are very similar but at the same time are extremely different to one another. Our final verdict is that HTML5 is the better of the two. This is because it is cleaner, easier to embed both video and audio and it is compatible with the most popular browsers. It also comes with a lot of new features that HTML has been in dire need of for some time now. Yet, we could be wrong and HTML5 could still flop. Who knows what the future will hold and whether this verdict with remain correct.
Author Bio: This is a guest post by Nate Miller. Nate currently represents Starmen USA, a creative agency specialized in web design los angeles.
Leave a Reply