When Will the HTML5 Spec Be Finalized?

Posted 02/14/2011 at 7:37am | by Paul Lilly

3

Comments

Print

This past year we've been hearing a lot about HTML5, the next generation Hypertext Markup Language set to replace the current version of HTML. Just about every new browser release and revision makes mention of new HTML5 tricks that have been coded in, and it's up to the World Wide Web Consortium's HTML Working Group to recommend the standard. Are we close to having that happen?

Depends on your definition of 'close.' If the W3C sticks to its time frame, it will officially recommend the standard in the second quarter of 2014, a little over three years from now, CNet reports.

"We started working [on HTML5] in 2007," Phillippe Le Hegarate, HTML activity leader for the W3C, told CNet. "We're targeting seven years for completing HTML5."

As we mentioned, browser makers are already starting to bake HTML5 code into their software, and there's nothing stopping developers from rolling out HTML5 technology ahead of an official recommendation. And later this year, Le Hegaret expects the first "last call" draft of HTML5 will come out. The significance here is that the last call draft will be feature complete, with only bug fixes and tweaks to follow.

Image Credit: zoocha.com