Learning HTML5

As of today, May 27th 2010, don’t go looking to Amazon for any books on HTML5, all of the titles on search are in the pipeline and only available for pre-order. So where to?  Where can you find content for offline reading?  At this point I don’t know and I wish I did, because I am rearing to go.

In the meantime the hype, according to The Register in their post HTML5 Unhinged, is over taking the reality and HTML5 is fast becoming all things to all people, just as AJAX and Web 2.0 did in the past.  Probably more than just a few of those said people could benefit from actually having a read about the topic, rather than bluff, argument and counter-arguments all round.

Anyhow, for those happy to read online, here are a bunch of useful posts, resources and anything else I deemed might be worthy of an HTML5 learning collection:

• HTML5 – As laid out on Wikipedia and the context of its development, from the standardisation to the markup to the new apis, to the different between HTML5 and XHTML and onto other things such as error handling.  Definitely a worthwhile starting point for those that are less technically inclined.
• Dive into HTML5 – is an awesome online resource in the public domain, styled as if a medieval edition hot off the Caxton Press.  It covers a bunch of useful areas from Forms to Canvas to Audio-Video, and on and on.  The online document is going to end up in print via O’Reilly and the Google Imprint, and you can pre-order, but until then it is available online for FREE.
• API Rocks HTML5 - A nifty online presentation and code examples for HTML5 that bring more of the functionality face-to-face with you, rather than just the written word.  The interactive presentation makes it super simply to understand HTML5, CSS3 and JS and how they interact, with plenty of take homes for use on your own site.
• Bread & Circuits – Dave Humphrey of processing.js fame and MUCH more has been dabbling in HTML5 and Audio stuff.  It’s an interesting insight into some of the possibilities.  His distinct style and view make for interesting reading above and beyond the simple realm of pure HTML5.
• The WHATWG blog – The blog for the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (Sorry for the mouthful) contains a plethora of really interesting articles on HTML5.  With the archives stretching back to 2006 they have a lot of posts on topics ranging from the Browser API to Conformance Checking and onto Tutorials.
• HTML5 Tutorials – Talking of tutorials, this web site which is dedicated to HTML5 and the art of the tutorial has a wide range of excellent posts and illustrated articles bringing you up to speed on the topic.  They highlight examples, on using the new API such a local file storage, and provide good links to live sites that are already using HTML5 out in the wild.
• Preview of HTML5 – A list Apart always does GREAT tutorials and articles, and this HTML5 preview is NO exception.  Definitely worth checking out.
• HTML5 Demos – Getting to grips with soemthing is 2often about seeing it in action and then dissecting how it works.  To this end the HTML5 demos web site is super handy and provides examples of demos from 2 videos playing in sync to interactive canvas gradient and onto drag and drop and so on.
• Can I Use -  Last but not least is the Can I Use web site which outlines “Compatibility tables for features in HTML5, CSS3, SVG and other upcoming web technologies.”  Definitely a useful tool when it comes to compatibility and cross-browser happiness charts.

No doubt more will be added in due course, here, or in supplementary posts, but it s a good start for now I think.  And if you have any good suggestions, feel free to shout them out in the comments. Thanks in advance!

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