HTML 5.0 is now a Reality

A few years ago when the concept of HTML 5.0 was announced, it created a buzz in the industry. There was lot of excitement and talk about disruption in the software industry, including the e-Learning world.

However, as the dust settled, several issues cropped up that created a doubt on the feasibility of using HTML 5.0 as a platform for e-Learning. Several bloggers –including those from the e-Learning industry cast doubt on the use and adoption of HTML 5.0 for e-Learning

Three prominent doubts that cropped up were:

1. Browser Compatibility: Being an advanced technology, the biggest challenge that HTML 5.0 posed was that it was not supported by the older browsers. While the new browsers started incorporating HTML 5.0 support in their DOM, the majority of the computers still used older unsupported browsers. Thus, even if applications could be developed on HTML 5.0, there were not many users to use these.
2. Availability of manpower: The second challenge for commercial and widespread development was the unavailability of resources who were experts in HTML 5.0. It was still in the development stage and not included in mainstream education. As a result, it was impossible for educational institutions to churn out sufficient trained resources for the industry.
3. Development Tools: Mass and commercially feasible development of software applications takes place only when sufficient automation tools, libraries, etc. are available with organizations. The lack of such tools made development difficult.

Due to these factors, even though everybody was excited about HTML 5.0, there was not much commercial use for it and it remained a mere hype among the organizations.

But this was the situation in 2008 and before.

In G-Cube, we too had setup an R&D team to develop HTML 5.0-based e-Learning courses and applications. To maintain our edge in domain expertise, instead of hiring external resources, we trained our existing manpower on HTML 5.0 technologies.

A few months ago I attended a conference on Advance HTML 5.0. I was glad to see that the conference hall was full of young engineers who were working on various HTML 5.0 projects in their organizations, ranging from development of websites to advanced applications. The discussion with the developers showed that HTML 5.0 has been taken very enthusiastically, and many organizations have created a separated department for research and development of HTML 5.0 applications.

The speakers in the conference demonstrated several tools, ranging from browser compatibility to automatic code generation of HTML 5.0, like HTML 5 Test, Modernizr, HTML 5 Demos, etc. A Google search will yield a plethora of results about HTML 5.0 tools, learning resources, and organizations offering development of HTML 5.0 applications. With the increasing percentage of computer users moving to newer compatible browsers, the potential consumer base for HTML 5.0 has also increased significantly.

Thus, HTML 5.0 has come of age.

Today, our sales team receives many queries about the development of e-Learning courses in HTML 5.0. Currently we have several HTML 5.0 projects under development and the progress has been well appreciated by our customers.

As the use of mobile devices, tablets, etc. increases the demand for HTML 5.0, which is bound to escalate – the biggest task being conversion of existing e-Learning courses and tools to HTML 5.0.