Tech Tuesday - HTML5: What's it all about?

Recently we launched a mobile and web SCADA version of the popular InTouch product, called InTouch Access Anywhere. The beauty of this product is full access to a working SCADA application all via a HTML5 compliant browser. 

But what is HTML5 and why does it have significant influence over browsers we will be using in the future?

HTML5 was developed in 2006 as a new standard of working set by up the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG). 

As both groups were working with different standards for developing new forms and applications, along with the growing number of mobile devices,  it was decided a set of rules would help developers. 

Some of the rules of which HTML5 uses include: 

• Websites and apps to be based on HTML, CSS, DOM and JavaScript (click on any of these for more info) 
• The need for external plugins (like Flash) to be reduced
• Error handling should be easier 
• HTML5 should be device-independent
• The development process should be visible to the public

HTML5 is designed to support activities such as running apps, music and movies online without requiring additional third party media players and really increases its attractiveness for using across smart devices. 

One thing to remember though is that HTML5 is not yet an official standard, and no browsers have full HTML5 support. But all major browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer) continue to add new HTML5 features to their latest versions. 

To find out how well your browser is supporting HTML5 - simply visit this test site: http://html5test.com/. You'll find out more about InTouch Access Anywhere here.