I was recently updating my resume, and in doing so, decided to include HTML5/CSS3 into my list of relevant skills. After handing out a few copies of my resume at a certain midwest startup fair, I was confronted about my knowledge of HTML5. As a web developer who has spent most of my recent time digging into WordPress and the hip new Responsive Web Design fad, I hadn’t really had time to consider just what exactly I would say to such a question.
What exactly do I know about HTML5? I’ve read several of Chris Coyier’s articles on semantics using HTML5. I’ve perused the official HTML5 spec a little bit…and I’ve even developed this entire site, along with several others, using many of the new HTML5 elements and form attributes.
But do I really know HTML5?
I don’t necessarily mean knowing literally all that there is to know about HTML5. There are still a few quirks with HTML that I find out from a day to day basis (although none of them are too obvious!). But at what point should a web programmer feel that they know enough about the subject to claim that they know the subject itself. Knowing how to utilize a few new attributes in forms is fine, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that a person knows HTML5.
What about the canvas? It is still definitely one of the single most interesting parts of the new HTML5 specification. With it, developers can do any number of things, from font replacement to even creating small games in both 2D and 3D! Or perhaps the Audio and Video elements are the most important?
Please excuse me if this post seems like a sort of rant, but I truly do wish to know the community’s opinion on this matter. How do we know that we know HTML5? In fact, while I’m asking this question, at what point can we claim to know anything? I’ve spent about a year developing in Visual C#, and yet I learn new things about it every single day. Do I truly know Visual C#? I’m gonna leave it up to you! Please feel free to respond in the comments, and sorry for such an epistemological question.
