HTML 5: Become an expert

  • Article

Introduction:

So you want to be an expert at HTML 5, good move.  If you have worked with earlier versions of HTML but never read the specification, it might be a good idea to start out this time by reading the specification.  The specification for HTML5 can be found at:

As mentioned earlier, this is the link to the latest DRAFT.  If you want to be an expert, or knowledgeable, you will need to be able to discuss the evolution of the product as well as the current version.  If you see things are that seem to be incorrect you can give feedback, the current draft should be the one you read prior to giving feedback to the commit watchers you sign up here:

Now let’s determine how you become an expert:

From the HTML 5 Specification:

1.7.1 How to read this specification

This is a good practice for many things we should read, if you are buying real estate, legal documents and things you are becoming an expert at:

“This specification should be read like all other specifications. First, it should be read cover-to-cover, multiple times. Then, it should be read backwards at least once. Then it should be read by picking random sections from the contents list and following all the cross-references.”

Those words are from the Specification, they aren’t mine, wish I could take credit.

See: https://www.w3.org/TR/html5/introduction.html#how-to-read-this-specification

1.7.2 Typographic conventions

These are important, the typographic conventions and understanding that there is a precision to the way the words are presented.  You might want to print this section out, put it on a separate screen when you are reading the HTML 5 Specification.  After all if you are “agile”, you may not be used to reading specifications, fair enough, but again if you want to be an “expert” you might need to be comfortable with this type of document, but then again, in software it isn’t a requirement.

One of the ways to become an expert is to read other material, the HTML 5 specification asks that you also read other documents, in this case you should treat these documents the same way you treat the HTML5 specification, use the same rule for reading discussed in this document:

Conclusion:

Initially, read the HTML5 document, this is what the authors for the books you may purchase in 18 or so months are doing right now.  If you read the HTML 5 specification, it will give you a better idea of what HTML does, and it can help you in your career.

 

Gratuitous mention of the “Royal Wedding”

And now a mention about the wedding of Prince Williams and Kate Middleton:

  • Is Kate Middleton checking her email in this photo? 

Image: Britain's Prince William salutes and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, bows her head