The history of Web Design has been established significantly over the years. Modern-day developers design web pages using standard markup languages like HTML and HTML5.
In this article, we will discuss HTML and HTML5, and the difference between HTML and HTML5. So let's get started.
What is HTML?
Hypertext Markup Language or HTML is a standard markup language developed in 1993. It is used to create static web pages and several other documents displayed on the Internet. HTML consists of numerous features like tags and attributes that define a web page's structure, display, and content. It allows developers to add text, images, links, and videos to make their web pages look more appealing.
HTML is often used with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript to add style to the webpage and make the web pages more interactive by adding audio and pop-ups.
What is HTML5?
HTML5 refers to the fifth version of HTML released in 2014. It is an improvised version of HTML that offers various new features and improvements, such as audio support, features like drag-and-drop, improved support for graphics and animations, and better storage support.
HTML5 has become widely popular among developers. Adding several new and improved features makes it an ideal language for creating modern and interactive websites, applications, webpages, and various other documents displayed on the Internet.
Difference between HTML and HTML5
HTML and HTML5 are standard markup languages used for designing web pages, but they have distinct features that make them different. Let's take a look at the difference between HTML and HTML5 -
Parameters
HTML
HTML5
Definition
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the main language used to create web pages.
HTML5 is an updated version of HTML that brings additional features to the markup language and incorporates new Internet technologies.
Multimedia support
HTML doesn't provide support for videos and audio.
HTML5 supports both audio and video.
Internet requirement
HTML requires an internet connection to access documents on the Internet.
HTML5 provides users the ability to use web applications to work in offline mode.
Browser compatibility
All modern browsers support HTML.
HTML5 is compatible only with a few browsers as some browsers may not support its new features.
Display
HTML is not display-friendly; therefore, a webpage created for mobile may not work on other screen sizes and vice versa.
HTML5 is mobile-friendly, meaning that this feature makes it easier for developers to create designs that adapt to different screen sizes and are convenient for users.
Application
HTML is not ideal for creating complex web applications and is mainly used for developing static websites.
HTML5 is used to create complex web applications using other languages like JavaScript and CSS to make the website more interactive.
Debugging
HTML codes can be hard to debug as there is no error detection feature.
HTML5 offers better error handling and helps.
Features
HTML does not provide audio support. It is used with CSS and JaveScript to make the web page more interactive.
HTML5 offers improved multimedia support for audio, graphics, animation, and video playback to create interactive web pages.
Storage
HTML has flexible storage and lets users store heavy files. It uses cache memory and cookies to store data.
HTML5 offers several storage options and uses local storage to store data.
Load Time
HTML is lightweight so it loads very fast.
HTML5 due to the addition of multimedia, canvas and complex code makes it heavier and the load time is not fast as in previous versions.
Shape
HTML does not support drawing shapes like circles, rectangles, triangles etc.
HTML5 does support drawing shoes like rectangles, circles, triangles etc.
Threading
The browser interface and JavaScript are both running in the same thread in HTML.
In HTML5 there is JavaScript Web Worker API, which allows the browser interface to run in multiple threads.
Character encoding
HTML has a more complex syntax for specifying character encoding as there is no limit to bytes of the document.
In HTML5 the syntax is very simple because of the limit that the encoding needs to be within the first 1024 bytes of the document.
Structure of HTML vs HTML5
The above diagram shows the structure of HTML and HTML5. With HTML5 the tags and attributes are updated and changed and now we have semantic elements that are used to describe the content, we are putting such as article tags for the article and footer for the footer of the web page. In HTML we are using divs and giving them id or class which is a lot of work for developers and not easy to understand also. We also have form controls and multimedia elements in HTML5 which makes design easier.
HTML Elements which have been modified or removed from HTML5
There are some new additions in HTML5 regarding the elements as they provide a better structure to the content such as the <article> tag which is used for article content. The HTML elements that are removed in the new version i.e. HTML5 include <frame>, <s>, <applet>,<center> and many more. The reason behind removing these elements is to promote simple structuring and also their function can be done by CSS. Also, the new elements provide better SEO-friendly web pages.
Advantages and Disadvantages of HTML
Some of the Advantages of HTML are:
It is relatively easy to learn and pick.
It supports all browsers.
It loads fast and is lightweight.
In it, basic editors can do the work.
Some of the Disadvantages of HTML are:
It has a complex layout or the design is not achieved by some people.
It has very few multimedia supports.
It has no accessibility for the visually impaired.
It has security issues due to XSS attacks.
Advantages and Disadvantages of HTML5
Some of the Advantages of HTML5 are:
It has multimedia supports. It supports video, canvas, and audio.
It has new semantic tags like header, footer, and article.
It is capable of storing data locally due to session and local storage.
It is an SEO-friendly language.
Some of the Disadvantages of HTML5 are:
Not all old web browsers support it.
For it, JavaScript and good CSS knowledge is required.
It has a large size content due to multimedia.
It has some security issues due to XSS attacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the two types of HTML5?
There are two types of web storage API in HTML5. They are localstorage and Sessionstorage. The Localstorage has no expiration date, while Sessionstorage exists till the tab is open.
What is doctype in HTML5?
Doctype is the instruction to the web browser about the markup language's version in which the code of the webpage is written. It is a document-type declaration.
What is the first code of HTML?
All HTML codes start with a document type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>. Also, the code further starts with <html> tag and ends with </html>. The part which is visible is inside the <body> tag.
How many tags in HTML?
HTML 5.2 has 142 tags, but only 115 are practical in any HTML code. These tags mark the start and end of elements that shape a webpage's structure in the DOM.
Conclusion
This article discussed HTML and HTML5. We also looked into their features and the difference between HTML and HTML5. If you want to dig deeper into HTML, here are some related articles -
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