But I don’t develop using HTML5…and I won’t for the foreseeable future.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t dabbled in it. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t created a few things just for myself that no one will ever see. The reason why I don’t offer it up as a service is plain and simple: browser support.
The fact is that while IE6, 7 & 8 are still a majority in the Internet world, you CAN’T develop enterprise level sites and apps in HTML 5 because you’re wasting your efforts. Clients want great looking, functional sites with a lot of bells & whistles (which is great), but they want it done quickly. If you go through all the trouble to create an app using tons of HTML5 then you’ll have to make sure that code degrades delicately in browsers that don’t support it. That takes time…time clients usually don’t want to pay for.
Maybe your user base is 80% FireFox and Google Chrome. That’s great, then have at it. Most ‘real world’, ‘non-techy’ sites out there don’t have that luxury. A good example is a friend of mine who works at a very large (and prominent) corporation. She is forced to use IE6 on a daily basis because they have a corporate policy about not upgrading. IE6 for heavens sake!!! This is a browser that even Microsoft wants people to stop using.
To developers out there who boast about their HTML5 prowess: Good for you for learning new technology, it probably won’t help your clients though.
To clients and employers that insist their developers know and/or have a mastery of HTML5 in order to get a contract or get hired: You’re kidding yourselves. Instead of Googling the latest technology and deciding that’s what your next dev has to have, you should worry about finding a dev that will be able to solve your problems today.
I hope that this trend turns around and that IE9 has some kind of mass adoption somehow, but until that happens…my HTML5 tool-set will probably remain on my sandbox at home.
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