Is it too early to use HTML5

Question

I was wondering if it it too early to use HTML5 for a production site. Should I rather wait 6-12 months until users have updated to compatible html5 browsers? This leads me to,

Answer 1

A key point you must answer first is: what will HTML5 will bring to the new user? Upon answering find a middle ground:

Could you...

• Offer "traffic generating" content in the most compatible format?
• Seamlessly display the "best format" for a given browser (adaptive CSS)?
• Offer teasers which will encourage the user to download good browsers?
• Offer advanced content in the best format for the content itself?

Sometimes we construct advanced features in a site for ourselves, the web masters, and forget that the user may not even notice our efforts (like the stupid flash animations that everybody skips).

I agree that we all should start pushing the users toward new standards (imagine if we all boycotted IE and all sites refused to serve IE content!), but do so without shooting yourself in the foot and having an amazing site that only you can see.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Depends on the HTML5 features you use. In general only Chrome and Safari (webkit-based browsers) support most of HTML5, the other browsers including IE8 and Firefox lack support for various features. See http://www.scriptol.com/xml/html-5-browsers.php

Answer 3

If everyone waits for others to start using, no-one will ever use it.

Why not help lead the way? Just stick to browser-supported features and help educate your users about updating their browser.

Answer 4

if you wait you will wait forever. write the html and css so it degrades gracefully, do your best and get ahead of the pack.

Answer 5

No - see http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-5-snapshot-2009 or http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/16/html5-and-the-future-of-the-web/

Answer 6

It is really a bit of a toss-up. Safari and Chrome support a pretty hefty chunk of the proposed HTML5. Firefox would come in after them with a reasonable amount of support. IE8 however, doesn't offer hardly any HTML5 support. There are some JS hacks that enable some elements, but its far from a solid solution. Just be aware of what you're getting into. check out this overview on Wikipedia

However, to get a bit of a hack-y feeling support for HTML5 in IE, you can check out Remy Sharp's HTML5shiv

There are however, a good amount of HTML5 elements you can implement in your projects now that are supported by most browsers, take a look at this video from nettuts "HTML5 Features you Should be Using Right Now"