I’ve been paying attention to the evolution of HTML5 / WHATWG for a while, but I spent some time really thinking about the impact this will have when it finally makes it into the real world (and enough real browsers implement it). The whole idea of having a real API spec for things like postMessage and local storage, things which are appearing in Safari 3 and Firefox 3 (soon IE8).

I can’t help but think that we’re finally reaching the vision imagined about 10 years ago now when the Netscape/Microsoft battle began in earnest. The dream was that you’d be able to run things like a spreadsheet or word processor in your browser, complete with local storage, perhaps a database, and fast, local widgets.

I don’t know if we would’ve gotten here any faster if Microsoft didn’t fight it as hard as they did. On one hand, it’s significant that IE6 basically stayed stagnant for 6-7 years. At least 6 years with barely any meaningful rendering engine changes. That’s staggering, when you think about it, and it’s why developing for IE6 is so frustrating. Even today, many sites, including Coolspotters, have degraded functionality or features that are dropped or on hold because IE6 is still in the Stone Age while still having a large installed base. If it weren’t for Firefox, I don’t think Microsoft would’ve really committed to the standards movement as much as they have lately.

On the other hand, a lot of innovations over the last few years took time independent of the browser situation, things like faster hardware, more RAM, faster JavaScript engines, better research into rendering algorithms, and better connectivity. Also, the evolution of Flash over the same time has been remarkable.

No matter how you look at it, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting in the web space. It’s now time to build something cool with this new functionality. It might get even more people to upgrade out of IE6 and that alone is worth it to me.

If you want more HTML5 info, you can check out some of these posts: