The world of the wide web has gone through a bumpy and exciting evolution. The latest iteration, unoriginally dubbed Web 2.0, is actually a creative amalgamation of existing technologies utilized in a more standardized way. The talented spirit of the programming community have been using JavaScript, XML, Flash, Ruby, Rails, etc. on frequently needed features for Web sites. The functionality, programming, and usability standards that have stood the test of time have become more documented and more elegantly married and put into practice.

So what of the little engine that could? That quaint little scripting language that is the backbone of all websites that has and will change the way we live forever. What of good ‘ol HTML?

It’s been 10 years, and the venerable HTML 4.0 is getting some attention. On the horizon, HTML 5.0. The powerhouses that be, Apple, Mozilla, Opera, and Microsoft are major players considered by the W3C (the consortium that standardizes all those cute little HREF and STRONG and IMG SRC tags) in this next generation that will be HTML 5.

Under consideration is a new hierarchy of tags to help create quick and efficient websites. Proposed tags include things such as <article>, <section>, <nav> and <aside> to help segment information much like <table>, <ul>, <h1> would format useful and frequently needed ways of presenting information.

Another update will include…video! Although the internet has always promised huge amounts of data to be shared among the masses, bandwidth and plug-in standardization limited the practicality of sharing video content. Well, the time is nigh. Video is here. Video is now. Currently, Flash Video has risen above the rest to generate high quality, cross-browser, feature-rich media using developer-friendly tools delivered on a robust plug-in of the Flash Player that has 98% ubiquity. The Flash Player is the most downloaded piece of software in the world. (Think about it, not everyone uses Internet Exploder, Firefox, Safari, or Opera, but just about everyone has Flash player installed.) Well, the W3C is looking at video now and giving it its props. As this will require evolution out of the <embed> tag space that it’s been living in for so long and that it will need to be backwardly compliant with previous browsers, I’m skeptical that it will be immediately more useful than Flash Video right out of the gate.

Audio is also being examined as a standardized tag.

And finally, if I haven’t gotten too geeky or technical on you yet, a two-tiered document object model (DOM) is being examined. One that will continue down the path of the historic HTML path, and another that will embrace content into a more XML-friendly package. How you need the content to be stored and delivered will determine which DOM path you decide to go down.

It’s too soon to sound the trumpets and hark the angels of the tag-toting gods; but keep your eyes and ears open, friends. HTML 5.0 is coming.

Preview of HTML 5
W3C HTML 5 Draft