HTML5 + CSS3
This website was proudly built using HTML5 and CSS3, the new generation of web standards. Both of these emerging technologies demonstrate the immense power of how far the web has come (and how much it has stayed the same), and how those who leverage contemporary best practices can craft beautiful and efficient websites today.
HTML5
HTML5 is nearly a finalized spec, and almost all modern browsers and mobile devices recognize the new elements it brings to the table. Most relevant to your organization’s website, HTML5 enables much more semantic, efficient and useful markup. For instance:
HTML4
<div id="nav">
... navigation elements ...
</div>
<div id="section">
... main content ...
</div>
<div id="footer">
... footer information ...
</div>
HTML5
<nav>
... navigation elements ...
</nav>
<section>
... main content ...
</section>
<footer>
... footer information ...
</footer>
CSS3
CSS stands for cascading style sheets, and CSS3 is the next generation of the language. It provides a rich new set of tools for visual enhancement, bringing new levels of speed and efficiency to the presentation of a web page. With the ability to render gradients, rounded corners, drop shadows, advanced text effects, more complex positioning, animation and more, it obviates the need for process-intensive, decorative graphics to be loaded for every widget across a website. And for older browsers like Internet Explorer that do not understand the new rules, it degrades nicely. For example:
Internet Explorer 7
Firefox 3.6
To achieve a comparable effect with images would require several hundred kilobytes of data, plus additional HTTP calls, which slows the display of a site. CSS3 enables advanced display techniques that load quickly and are future-proof.
What do these technologies really mean?
- Faster-loading websites
Less markup in the HTML, fewer images being downloaded, and fewer HTTP requests - Progressive enhancement
Modern browsers like Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari understand these languages, and it degrades nicely down older versions of Internet Explorer - Accessibility and portability
Markup becomes truly semantic, describing the document, and less reliant on class and ID names, making the site easier to maintain for both full screen and mobile versions - Maintenance
Less proprietary class and ID names, plus fewer decorative images, means much speedier site updates and upgrades
do you use these for client projects?
Yes. HTML5 and CSS3 are not only the future, they are the present. Since 2010, both have become the pillars on which I build web projects because all of my clients deserve websites that are 100% operable now and ten years from now.