The rise of HTML5: rejecting aloofness and niche

Shikhir Singh is currently working at Sencha as a senior manager of developer engagement.

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Today is the first anniversary of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announcing the completion of HTML5 standards, an important milestone in the history of the Internet and web application development. Over the past year, HTML5 has gained rapid popularity, and more and more companies have begun to develop cross-platform web applications for us on HTML5. Not long ago, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and YouTube all moved from Adobe Flash to HTML5. Why did they do this? Why choose now?

Over the past few years, millions of developers have turned to HTML5 to create web applications that better meet business needs and have a more seamless and improved user experience on different platforms and screens. In 2015, as more and more companies choose the "mobile first" strategy, HTML5 has become the trend and has begun to escort many enterprise-level software with rich web experiences.

The power of HTML5 is becoming clear. In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg, the influential CEO of Facebook, criticized HTML5, but only three years later, he changed his mind and began to integrate HTML5 technology into Facebook's news feed (click here for a detailed comparison).

Currently, there are three trends driving the industry's shift toward online applications and HTML5:

1. Technological innovation is ultimately in line with the times

The industry's shift to HTML5 is not only due to the consistent performance and functional innovation of the programming language itself, but also due to the significant improvements in the browsers that run web applications. In just a few years, the operation and response speed of browsers have improved significantly. The former browser king, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), is no longer in the limelight, and rising stars such as Google Chrome are beginning to provide us with a faster and more efficient browsing experience. With the decline of Flash, HTML5 has won the favor of many developers with its rich multimedia compatibility - users can run web applications with the basic functions of the browser, and no longer need to download and install specific plug-ins.

At this crossroads of technological innovation, HTML5 has not only won the favor of developers, but has also become an urgent need for many companies. Its future path makes me full of hope and expectation.

2. Commercial companies need it

Businesses are often under great pressure: they need to promote their sophisticated web and mobile applications to customers; but at the same time, customers expect these applications to be compatible with multiple devices, including desktop computers, tablets and smartphones. And not only are customers' expectations increasing, but industry trends are also beginning to shift in this direction. In order to adapt to industry needs, companies are beginning to focus on technologies that can meet consumers' cross-platform needs in order to take the initiative now and in the future.

HTML5's "develop once, compatible in multiple places" feature allows enterprises to design, create and manage more advanced and complex applications with minimal development costs, and across multiple platforms and devices.

3. Developers can’t live without it

Even though the current digital development environment is becoming more and more complex and advanced, development teams are still faced with the challenge of increasing the speed of application operation. In a recent survey, research firm StrategyAnalytics asked mobile application developers about their usage preferences and their attitudes towards application development. The researchers found that the above difficulties are also the main reason why developers choose HTML5. In addition, they also found that among all technologies for developing native and web applications, 20% of respondents believe that HTML5 will usher in strong growth, and 63% of enterprise applications are developed using HTML5.

For developers, the key attraction of HTML5 is its open standards support, which helps them develop applications for fragmented mobile devices, different screen sizes, differentiated platforms and operating systems. Developers can use HTML5 to create and present rich content that is not dependent on the operating system or device, which is a good alternative to native applications.

If they can choose, developers are more inclined to choose programming languages ​​that support cross-platform features - this can not only ensure the quality of user experience on screens of different sizes, but also enable them to ensure their competitiveness in front of different employers and different development needs. The trend of developing network applications will prompt more JavaScript programmers to turn to HTML5.

HTML5: Looking Ahead to 2016

As someone who has worked on the front lines with development teams for many years, I am deeply impressed by HTML5 and its revolutionary impact on mobile applications. At this crossroads of technological innovation, HTML5 has not only won the favor of developers, but has also become an urgent need for many companies. I am full of hope and expectation for its future path.

Next year, I believe HTML5 will become more popular because more and more companies are starting to abandon Internet Explorer and switch to Chrome and Firefox at work, both of which have better support for HTML 5. And as the adoption rate of Windows 10 grows, its Microsoft Edge browser will also allow corporate users to better enjoy the convenience of HTML5.