Perspectives on the Evolution of HTML

Daniel Austin

PayPal, Inc.

HTML5 DevConf

Oct. 23, 2013

V 1.1

My Love-Hate Relationship With HTML

• Originally an innocent physicist• I became involved in the WWW, and it’s been all downhill

ever since• Member of the HTML WG @ W3C since 1996 (with some

gaps)• Member of 14 other W3C Working Groups since 1998

– XML Core, XSLT, Web Services Architecture, Web Performance, and a lot of others

HTML’s Evolution

Source: Vlad Alexander

2005 2010 2015 2020

XHTML 2.0 (2006

HTML 5.0 (2014)

HTML 5.1 (2016)

HTML 6? (2020)What WG Draft (2009)

The Browser Wars (1996)

• JavaScript and CSS and Divs, Oh My!

• Not to mention JSSS and <layer>

• A time of much innovation and change

• But nobody won

The Role of HTML as a Display Format (1998)

• From W3C’s Future of HTML Workshop 1998

• HTML modeled on PostScript• Argued for better layout• Targeting specific devices• Horribly Embarrassing:

– HTML+CSS+JS slideshow didn’t work!• The paper later proved to be influential

The Role of HTML as a Display Format (2013)

Source: Andy Gryc, QNX

The Arrival of XML

• ‘Bringing Rationality’ to the WWW• Naive Thinking: 6 months (!)• Never Intended to ‘kill HTML’

XML Core XSLT XLink XSchema

XML’s Impact on HTML

Wins• XHTML is probably the

most successful spec ever

• Improved the overall quality and reliability of the WWW

• XML remains central to the Web’s architecture

Losses• Xquery/Xpath/Xlink/

XSD/XSLT not as successful

• Verbosity and parsing not well-suited for mobile devices

• JSON rises as an alternative

How the Sausage Was Made

• ‘XMLifying’ HTML was a huge task…

• …and led to a lot of heartache

• Compromises had to be made; no one was satisfied

• 1999: HTML 4.01• 2000: XHTML 1.0• 2001: XHTML 1.1

(Modularization)

…and then a long break

Standards Take Forever

11 Years, 3 Months, 22 days!!!

The WhatWG and the Why

• After Modularization was completed, HTML had a mid-life crisis

• Everyone wanted more from HTML, faster• XHTML 2.0 Wasn’t Working, so we got HTML5• Eventually, the spirit of reason prevailed, and WhatWG

and W3C continue to live happily ever after

Current State of the HTML 5 Spec

Specification FPWD LC CR PR Rec

HTML5 N/A 2011 Q2 2012 Q4 2014 Q4 2014 Q4

HTML 5.1 2012 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q1 2016 Q4 2016 Q4

A Federated Model for HTML

Core HTML5

HTML Markup

HTML Media

IndexDB

Web Storage

Web Sockets

Web Workers

Canvas 2D

Source: Sergey Mavrody c. 2013

This is XHTML 1.1

The Co-Evolution of HTML, JS, CSS, and XML

Source: Sergey Mavrody c. 2013

Document Object Model

Javascript…

JSON…

XML CoreXSLTXSD

Xpath/XQuery

My Own Reasoning on Modularization

Modularization Worked

HTML5 is Fully Modularized

The Contraptionary Nature of the Web

“The amazing thing about the Web isn’t how well it works, but that it works at all”

George Bernard Shaw

“This specification is a kitchen sink full of technologies for the Web.”

WhatWG HTML5 Web site

Tower of Babel: A Problem We Have Yet to Solve

Mobile Technology is Driving HTML’s Evolution

• HTML5 is designed for mobile– Most new users are mobile

users• Many of HTML5’s coolest

innovations came from mobile considerations

• This may require leaving hypertext and documents behind

The Line Between Applications and Documents is Blurring

• Convergence at the hardware, software, and standards levels– Chromebook, Firefox OS– Native application performance still considerably better than

browser+HTML– HTML5’s Web Storage, IndexDB and WebWorker specs are

largely aimed at providing application functionality to HTML

The Rise of the API

• This is a straightforward consequence of the separation of functionality and appearance, no mystery here

• A significant proportion of HTTP traffic is for application traffic• Often JSON and/or HTML5 fragments• Paradoxically often still document-based (REST)

• Together with other trends, allows us to move toward a more application-based development model

Predictions for the Future of HTML

The Bar to Entry Will Get Higher

XHTML Isn’t Going Away

Applications Will Rule

Hypertext is Past It’s Sell-By

HTML Will Continue to Metastasize

What About WWW Values?

• Are We Making the Bar Too High?– We want the Web to be for everyone

• Can We Move Beyond Our Origins (and Still Retain the Spirit of the WWW?)

• Can We Continue to Evolve Naturally?– The Co-evolution of many interlocking standards is a daunting

task

Are We Making the World a Better Place?

“…a single user-interface to many large classes of stored information such as reports, notes, data-bases, computer documentation and on-line systems help”

WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project

Berners-Lee & Caillau, 1990

About:HTML

See you at HTML6 DevConf!

Daniel Austin

PayPal, Inc.

HTML5 DevConf

Oct. 23, 2013

@daniel_b_austin

da@x.com