Mumbai University > Information Technology > Sem 4 > Web Programming

Marks: 5M

Year: May 2015

Following are some of the major characteristics that distinguish HTML5 from HTML4.

1. Simplified and Clear Syntax

   The syntax in HTML5 is extremely clear and simple as compared to HTML4. One example of this is the DOCTYPE element. In HTML4 the DOCTYPE declaration was too messy and lengthy and used to refer an external source. However in HTML5 DOCTYPE element has been made extremely simple. For instance a mere is enough to specify the document type.

2. Multimedia Elements

   HTML5 contains built in support for integrated multimedia files into web page via video and audio tags. Previously, in HTML4, the multimedia content was integrated in web pages via third party plugins such as Silverlight and flash.

3. Accessing User Geographical location

   Previously in HTML4, it was an extremely cumbersome task to get the geographical locations of the visitors visiting the site. It was even difficult when the website was accessed through mobile devices. On the other hand, in HTML5 is extremely easy to get the user location. HTML5’s JS GeoLocation can be leveraged to identify the location of the user accessing the website.

4. Client Side storage

   In HTML4, in order to store important data on client side, browser’s cache was used. However, that cache is limited and doesn’t support relational storage mechanism. In HTML5, this issue has been addressed via Web SQL database and application cache that can be access via HTML5’s JavaScript interface.

Tag Differences in HTML4 and HTML5

Several tags in HTML4 have been removed from HTML5 or their functionality has been modified. Following are some of the tags that are removed from HTML5 or have different functionality in HTML5 as compared to HTML4.

1. <Applet> removed <Object> Added in HTML5

   HTML4 contained an <applet> tag that was used for displaying applets in a web browser. However, in HTML5, this applet tag has been removed. In order to display applet type items, a new <object> tag has been introduced in HTML5.

2. **<Acronym> removed <Abbr> Added in HTML5**

   HTML4 contained an <acronym> tag that was used for displaying abbreviation’s in a web browser. However, in HTML5, this tag has been removed. A new <abbr> tag has been introduced in HTML5.

3. Difference in usage of <hr> tag

   The <hr> tag was used to draw a line in HTML4 and all the previous versions of HTML, however in HTML5, the functionality of this tag has been changed and it is used for defining a thematic break in the web page.

4. Difference in usage of <a> tag

   In HTML4 and previous versions, the <a> tag was used as anchor as well as for referring to a link. In the HTML5, the <a> tag is used only as a hyperlink. But if the href tag is removed from the <a> tag, the <a> tag can be used as a place holder for other hyperlinks.

5. Schema attribute removed from <meta> tag in HTML5

   The <meta> tag is defined in the header section of the HTML document and contains information about the data. In the previous versions of HTML, including the HTML4, this tag used to contain an attribute called schema that defined the schema of the document. However, in HTML5, this tag has been removed.