HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
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Note
Users running Windows 7 and above can use IE9, but it supports only some HTML5 features. In fact, many
suggest that IE9 is anything but an emerging browser supporting the latest web standards. See
people.mozilla.com/
~prouget/ie9
. Also, IE9 is soon to be outdated, what with the release of Windows 8 and IE10. IE10 will be Microsoft's
first major contender in the emerging web browser market, as it will support many of HTML5's feature sets. It is also
slated to support the latest HTML5 spec and offer what is called a plug-in free browser, to be called “Metro” or what
was formally known as Metro. Metro is essentially the new and quite famout “start” menu from Windows. The Metro-
style apps will support HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript from a front end, as well as various Microsoft technologies from
a back end. There has also been talk that certain PCs will begin shipping with Kinect cameras inside the computer,
offering yet another way to interact with the content on screen. Really, what does a browser without plug-ins mean?
Simply, that no Flash, no Unity, and no other plug-ins will be supported. Time to learn web standards, don't ya think?
Sencha
Sencha is the new kid in town as far as technology goes. Based in California, Sencha makes JavaScript-based
frameworks for desktop and mobile called Sencha Touch and ExtJS for HTML5 web-application building. Their
web-development apps can easily be combined with Adobe's PhoneGap (or another packager's device) that ports
HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript files over to native files, which the device can run externally of the browser environment.
Developers often use Sencha's tools to rapidly build applications for the Web and deploy to app stores like Apple's App
Store and the Android Marketplace.
In addition to this enterprise application focus, Sencha also runs a product called Sencha Animator, which is its
solution for timeline-based animations using web standards and CSS3 based graphic animations. Like Adobe Edge
and Flash, Sencha provides an interface for dealing with rich graphics, animation, and even video, all within the
browser environment. Animator is targeted heavily toward the mobile industry; in addition, it offers native support
for ORMMA and the MRAID API. On the business end of things, since the recent layoff of many of Adobe's Flash
employees, several people, shifting gears from Adobe, have moved down the street to work on Sencha's emerging
products. My bet is Sencha will become a bigger player in the space as time progresses.
RIM
Research In Motion (RIM), known for the Blackberry operating systems, has been in the security business and
enterprise world a long time, but Blackberry browsers, also for the longest time, have been primitive in mobile, to say
the least. Until recently RIM didn't offer the true web experience, but lately it has started making consumer-friendly
Playbook, Torch, and Curve tablets and phones, with enhanced browsers, touch screen support, and even Flash
support. However, in 2011 RIM decided to pull out of the consumer market and head back into the enterprise market
due to its rapid decline in market share.
Blackberry, soon to release version 10 of its operating system, supports another marketplace application called
Blackberry App World, but it remains defeated in the mobile and tablet market among consumers. Its main competitor,
Apple, leaves it with minimal market share.
Opera
We can't forget about the Opera browser. Even though it's not huge in the U.S. market, it has enormous support in
European and African markets (especially with Opera Mini), since mobile Internet is more prevalent there due to the
lack of wired connections. Opera started out in 1994, first developing web products, then the Opera browser, and most
