Rebonjour, HTML 5 et futur du Web, du point de vue beaucoup plus concret de Lachland Hunt, tiré d'une entrevue réalisée par Russ Weakly :  Russ: Ok, lets get straight to the point - what is HTML5? Lachlan: HTML 5 is the next generation of HTML currently being developed by the WHATWG. It’s an effort to document and standardise many of the features of HTML and the DOM that authors use all the time, but which were poorly defined in HTML4 or previously undocumented. It’s also introducing many new features designed to meet the needs of authors today. Russ: So what about HTML 5 vs. XHTML 2 - is there room for both of them? Lachlan: XHTML2 has been in secret development since around 2001–2002 and was the W3C’s plan for the future of HTML. However, there are a number of serious flaws with the approach taken and the quality of the spec. It was not initially designed with backwards compatibility in mind and introduces a number of new features that are either impossible or extremely difficult to implement in mainstream browsers. Many of us also feel that the spec is ambiguous and fails to define many things, which will make achieving interoperability virtually impossible. As a result, it’s extremely unlikely that we will ever see XHTML2 implementations in mainstream web browsers. The W3C has decided to continue development of XHTML 2.0 with a separate working group, but few people understand why. The W3C Published a document called Architectural vision for HTML/XHTML2/Forms Chartering which vaguely describes the situation. If XHTML2 ever does take off, it’s likely that it will be limited to use within organisational intranets and “walled gardens” where developers have more control over the devices and/or software of their users, whereas HTML5 is designed for use on the web. So HTML5 and XHTML2 can co-exist if they serve different markets, but in my view, XHTML2 is unnecessary. Russ: What is the WHATWG and where does it fit into the picture? Is it like an underground resistance group for angry geeks? Lachlan: In 2004, Apple, Mozilla and Opera were concerned with the W3C’s lack of interest in HTML and apparent disregard for the needs of real-world authors. These organisations were resisting the W3C’s push to turn everything into XML and leave HTML behind. These days, the WHATWG is a growing community of browser vendors, web developers, and other people interested in the development of the next generation of HTML and related technologies, specifically designed to allow authors to write and deploy applications over the World Wide Web. If it weren’t for the WHATWG, we’d still be exactly where we were 10 years ago and going nowhere. As a direct result of their work, the W3C has just begun a new HTML working group which will hopefully continue with the work on HTML5. Unlike previous W3C working groups, participation is open to anyone. At the time of writing, there are over 700 subscribers to the WHATWG mailing list and over 300 participants in the W3C HTML WG. They include representatives from 4 major browser vendors: Mozilla, Opera, Safari and IE; web developers, designers and many other interested people. --
Denis Boudreau,
Directeur WebConforme / AccessibilitéWeb
1751 rue Richardson, bureau 3.501
Montréal (Qc), Canada H3K 1G6 Téléphone : +1 514-448-2650
Télécopieur : +1 514.667.2216
dboudreau at webconforme.com
blackberry at webconforme.com
http://www.webconforme.com/

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Les choses changent plus lentement que l’on pense. La rapidité
des changements technologiques est tempérée par la lenteur de
leur acceptation sociale. (Michel Cartier)