Questions and answers by the Head of Communications for W3C

I emailed the World Wide Web Consortium (team-liaisons@w3.org) to see what they think about my concerns regarding HTML5. I received a response from a Mr. Ian Jacobs who is the Head of Communications for W3C. What follows are the questions I asked and the responses from Mr. Jacobs.


Q. Why is HTML5 adoption so slow?

A. The Web Platform is a large set of technologies, and that set is always expanding. Some of the technologies are more mature than others (e.g., HTML5 video is now  widely supported). The Web is always growing, but the industry is very keen on HTML5 these days.

* Gartner listed Mobile Apps and Applications as their number 2 trend for 2014, including HTML5 adoption in the enterprise. http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2603623
* 52% of the developer population uses HTML5 technologies to develop mobile apps
http://www.visionmobile.com/product/developer-economics-q3-2013-state-of-the-developer-nation/
* In a Kendo UI survey 70% of the developers surveyed answered “adopt HTML5,” and 14% planned one native implementation per target platform plus one “catch-all” HTML app for all other platforms. http://www.w3.org/blog/2013/02/interview-todd-anglin/

Q. Which types of Organisations are adopting HTML5? Only Organisations that will benefit from mobile strategies?

A. Organisations  like:

Digital Publishing
Automotive
Television and Entertainment
Games
Retail
and many others.

Q.  How does academia contribute to the development of standards like HTML5? Are there questions that you think requires scientific inquiry around HTML5?

A. The W3C is a forum where many different stakeholders, including academia, that contribute to Web technology. There are some areas where academia contribute more than others (e.g., around semantic web technology).


Q. Because academia has the notion of IT resembling a fashion industry i.e organisations only adopt IT technologies because it is the “hottest thing” currently available, do you think HTML5 is a fashion trend?

A. Fashion trend? If you mean "The industry is very interested in it" then yes. HTML5 popularity is growing. I think that is because it solves real problems.

Q. User adoption refers to individuals that will start or adopt the habit of using the website, i.e. for online commerce and self-service technologies over the internet. The technology acceptance model (TAM) looks at perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of systems to predict user adoption. Do you think that HTML5 enables user adoption more than other technologies? If yes, how do you think HTML5 can be used in a study with the Technology acceptance model (TAM)? Also, do you think if developers use the HTML5 standard to develop web pages, that the standard will increase and individuals perceive ease of use of the website by default?

A. There is a difference between the underlying technology and the quality of a site that uses that technology. But HTML5 and other technologies of the Open Web Platform (CSS, WebRTC, SVG) are becoming more powerful and allowing designers and developers to create better experiences on a broader range of devices. I don't think there's a notion of "default." There is only the developer skill in using available technology well.


After my interview with Mr. Jacobs my views around HTML5 hasn’t changed, except maybe that HTML5 adoption is slow. I think there is a strong requirement for the web to be platform independent and Organisations  are adopting it quickly because HTML5 meets this need.

It should be noted that the opinions expressed in this blog entry does not necessarily express the opinions of the W3C.