HTML 5.2 Gets W3C Backing
Written by Kay Ewbank   
Monday, 18 December 2017

The latest version of HTML, version 5.2, is now a W3C Recommendation. This makes the existing HTML 5.1 recommendation obsolete, with HTML 5.2 now the official web standard, with support for JavaScript modules and better handling of online commerce.

While HTML 5 was the cause of great excitement, the release of 5.1 last year was a much lower key affair, in large because the innovations were happening outside HTML in the form of new web technologies.

The first public Working Draft of HTML 5.3 was published alongside the current version. In practical terms for the current 5.2 version, the main changes are as follows:

A dialog element has been added. This can be used to represent part of an application that a user interacts with to perform a task, for example a dialog box, inspector, or window. It has an open boolean attribute which when specified indicates that the dialog element is active and that the user can interact with it.

The new version has integration with the JavaScript module system introduced in ECMAScript 2018. This is now supported in HTML 5.2 via the use of 

<script type="module">

with rules on how a module will be resolved, fetched, and evaluated. This feature means it will be possible to load JavaScript modules, then to resolve, fetch, parse and evaluate module dependencies.

There's a new Payment Request API that is designed to make is simpler to implement commerce systems on the Web, reducing the risks of users making a mistake or being caught by an unscrupulous operator. There's also a new Content Security Policy that's designer to be more effective at protecting users. The policy lets web developers control the resources that a particular page can fetch or execute, and also to speficy a number of security-relevant policy settings.

Another improvement is the inclusion of features developed from ARIA (Accesible Rich Internet Applications). This enables the definition of semantic information about widgets, structures, and behaviors, so that assistive technologies can convey appropriate information to persons with disabilities.

There are several more minor additions, but of equal interest are some features that have been removed. One main removal is support for plugins. The thinking behind the removal is that new technologies and capabilities such as virtual reality or speech interaction are now developed as part of the Web Platform, so providing better control over potential security flaws.

Other HTML elements from older releases have been marked as non-conformant and the recommendation is that they must not be used. This means that in the future, browsers will be able to drop support for the older elements. 

html5logo

 

More Information

HTML 5.2 Changes Log

Related Articles

Developer's Edition Of HTML Makes Comeback

HTML 5.1 Is Here

HTML5 Is A Finished W3C Standard 

W3C Announce HTML5 To Be Ready Nearly A Decade Early

Which HTML5? - WHATWG and W3C Split

The One Addition That Would Make HTML5 Great

No more version numbers for HTML 

To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

 

Banner


Quantum Company Wins Digital Startup Contest
03/03/2024

Quantum specialists Qilimanjaro is the winner of this year's Four Years From Now competition. The award was made at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.



Visual Studio 17.9 Now Generally Available
18/03/2024

Visual Studio 17.9 is now fully available with AI assistance and better extensibility. The first preview of 17.10 has also been made available in preview.


More News

 

raspberry pi books

 

Comments




or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 18 December 2017 )