Difference Between HTML and HTML5

We all browse the internet almost everyday, jumping from one website to another. But do you know how much effort is put into developing even the simplest website or web page ?

Websites are created using a markup language called HTML. Web developers create web pages by using HTML tags to define the content and metadata of each page. A separate style sheet language, such as CSS, is often used to specify the layout, colors, font and appearance of different components within a web page.

So, now you know that HTML is what helps to design web pages. HTML5 is the fifth version of HTML. Many elements that were present in HTML have been removed or modified in this newer version. In this post, we are going to discuss some of the key differences between HTML and HTML5.

What Is HTML?

The fundamental language of the World Wide Web is HyperText Markup Language (HTML). It enables web developers to design how the different web page components such as text, hyperlinks, and multimedia files would be displayed on different web browsers.

HTML is the combination of hypertext and markup language. The term ‘hypertext’ refers to the link between different web pages. The structure of web pages is defined using a markup language. The majority of markup languages (for example, HTML) are human readable. Tags, written using angle brackets, are used in the language to specify what type of text modification is required.

HTML is a statically typed language, which means you can’t use it to make a dynamic or interactive web page. It is only capable of modifying the static components of the web page, such as the content header, footer, image position, etc. HTML must be combined with at least two front-end languages: Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and JavaScript, in order to create an attractive, dynamic website.

HTML elements, such as headers, tables, and paragraphs, are used to define the text structures of a page. The <A> and </A> formula is used to define each tag. It is commonly referred to as an ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ tag respectively.

For example, if you want to make a certain text style italic, you can use <i>text here</i>. These tags will be used by your browser to generate the content, which will then be displayed on the screen.

Timeline of HTML Version History

Tim Berners-Lee created the first HTML in 1991. Since then, his work has undergone several modifications, including HTML 2.0 in 1995, HTML 3.2 in 1997, HTML 4.01 in 1999, and XHTML in 2000. HTML5, which was launched in 2014, is the most recent HTML version.

HTML5 has added a plenty of advanced functionality to its predecessors, including offline media storage support, specialised content elements (such as footer, header, navigation,etc.), simplified inline doctype, audio and video embedding support.

HTML VS HTML5 — What Are the Main Differences?

HTML5 was created with the primary goal of enhancing the Web experience for both developers and end users. In this HTML versus HTML5 comparison, we’ll go through the major differences:

• HTML5 supports SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), canvas, as well as other virtual vector graphics, whereas utilising vector graphics in HTML required the use of additional technologies such as Flash, VML (Vector Markup Language), or Silverlight.
• Web SQL databases are used in HTML5 to temporarily store data. However, in prior versions of HTML, only the browser cache could be used for this purpose.
• With HTML5, JavaScript can now operate within a web browser, whereas earlier HTML only enabled JavaScript to operate in the browser interface thread.
• HTML5 is not based on SGML. This suggests that the parsing rules of the language have been improved, leading to better compatibility.
• In HTML5, certain elements have been removed, such as isindex, noframes, acronym, applet, basefont, dir, font, frame, frameset, large, centre, strike, and tt.
• HTML5 has added a variety of new features and components. Summary, time, aside, audio, command, data, datalist, are some of the most significant ones.

HTML5 Advantages For End-User

HTML5 is a revolutionary change for both developers and end users. Some of the benefits it gives to end users are as follows:

• Minimises the frequency of mobile browser crashes.
• It enhances reliance on mobile websites. If a visitor wants to utilise a company’s services but does not want to download their application, they may just log in to the company’s responsive website.
• It eradicates the requirement of Adobe Flash by offering an attractive graphic-rich user experience using JavaScript and MPEG4.
• Supports native audio and video components without the use of a plugin.

Conclusion

In this HTML vs HTML5 article, we learnt about the major differences between HTML5 and its predecessor.

First, HTML5 improved plenty of features that its predecessor lacked. It enables video and audio embedding via the <audio> and <video> tags, provides complete support for JavaScript to run in the background, introduces new elements such as date, datalist, summary, and has enhanced compatibility with better parsing rules.

Second, from the viewpoint of a developer, HTML5 improves in many areas, such as persistent error handling, semantics elements, support for web application and mobile usage, etc.

Finally, given the simplicity of use of HTML5 with contemporary web technology, we can confidently predict that use of this markup language will accelerate in the next few years. It is essential to learn about HTML5 in order to fully utilise the capabilities of modern-day web browsers.