Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Native features of the browser
As stated earlier, one of the strengths of HTML5 is the way it reflects real-world needs,
and brings elegant solutions to such needs. Features that don't get used a whole lot
by developers (or that don't get wide adoption by browser makers) eventually find their
way out of the spec. Likewise, repeated efforts by developers to solve recurring prob-
lems eventually cause new features to be suggested, then added to the spec. As new
recommendations become accepted as part of the spec, browser makers implement
these new features, and the end result is that the browser is extended, and becomes
capable of doing what developers had to code by hand.
As an example, let's take a look at placeholder fields. A placeholder is the text inside
an input field found in HTML forms, which take the place of a separate label. When
the input field is empty, the text inside it describes the data that the field expects (such
as a first name, or an e-mail address). Once the user begins to type into the field, that
placeholder text disappears, and the actual input from the user replaces it.
While this technique is very intuitive, it takes more physical space to represent, which
becomes especially challenging on smaller screen sizes.
