5 EXCITING THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN HTML 5

1. New HTML elements that improve our ability to describe content

HTML's primary task is to describe the structure of a web page. For example, by enclosing text between <p></p> elements, HTML tells the browser that the text between those elements is a paragraph.



2. Improved web forms handling

The most exciting thing about Web Forms 2.0 is form validation. Currently, developers are required to use JavaScript (client-side) or PHP (server-side) code to validate inputs. For example, many web forms contain required fields (perhaps for the username and email fields):



3. APIs for easier web application development

HTML 5 will introduce several application programming interfaces (APIs) to new and existing elements, aimed at improving web application development and addressing current issues with HTML 4's lack of ability to allow developers to mark up web applications.
One API is specifically for working with audio and video and will be used with the <audio> and <video> elements. It will provide audio and video playback capabilities and eliminate the need to use third-party applications, such as Flash, to develop and display media (at least for supported media files).



4. The <canvas> element allows image scripting on the fly

Most people take in information more quickly and effectively through visuals. For example, between a table, numerical data, and a pie chart, the pie chart gives users a better feel for the scale and relationship of data (at least most of the time).

The downside of images is that they're static. If you create a pie chart using a traditional method (for example, with an image editor like Photoshop, or a graphing application like Excel), you wouldn't be able to adjust any data that changes without manually editing your graphics.
With the <canvas> element, you can take constantly changing (database-driven) data and apply it to a pie chart like the one above, as well as other types of 2D visuals (even a cat, if you're so inclined), via scripting.
The canvas API also allows users to interact with <canvas> elements. For example, you can write a script that responds to users' clicking on a particular section of the pie chart.



5. Users can edit and interact with sections of a web page

The section in the proposed HTML 5 specifications about User Interaction describes new ways of marking up interactive web pages. The contenteditable attribute (a boolean attribute to which you assign either true or false) allows you to indicate which parts of a web page users can change.
This can be useful for wiki-style websites, in which content is user-generated. Another use of the contenteditable attribute would be to create web page templates. You can allow certain regions of a web page to be open to content editing and lock other regions that shouldn't be changed. This gives users of your website who aren't proficient in HTML an opportunity to input content safely without affecting critical areas that should be handled by more knowledgeable users.
At the document level, you can make an entire page editable via the designMode attribute, which accepts two values: on or off.