Instead of feeling excited over the new features of HTML5, I feel kinda sad that there still isn't a way to create live datalinks, sortable/filterable tables, listviews, tree-views, and real comboboxes (editable text + listbox) on the web without having to hack something up. Google made a great push towards replacing desktop-apps by creating a really fast browser but that doesn't make it any easier for web developers to create apps that work as well as desktop-apps. I once spent a week writing my own scrollbar and even as I wrote it, I knew I was wasting resources. However, it was a necessary feature for the project and if HTML scrollbars triggered the different events like those in almost any desktop platform, I wouldn't have had to write one from scratch.

I think it's great that the iPhone/Safari shows the most appropriate keyboard but compare the controls that iPhone SDK app developers can use vs. those that the iPhone web-app developers can call and you will see why HTML still has a very long way to go. And honestly, I don't see why a damn combobox has taken so long when almost every single web-app has a need for it ( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1278431/why-does-html-5-n... ).

You say it has a "long way to go", but the fact that you're even comparing web apps to desktop apps without talking about ActiveX or Java applets (as we did 10-13 years ago) is a sign that open standard HTML/CSS/JS has come a very long way. Given the challenges of developing cross-platform standards compared to proprietary or platform-specific APIs, I'm personally amazed that any of this stuff works.

Good stuff.. there's a learning curve there for sure, but it is well built and free.

It won't answer your question, but it will give you insight into the messy way the web evolves, which is about the closest thing to an answer you'll ever get.

Yep: I have to say I always notice and say a silent prayer of thanks when this happens :)

     module ActionView::Helpers
       class InstanceTag
         alias :orig_to_input_field_tag :to_input_field_tag
         def to_input_field_tag(field_type, options = {})
           orig_to_input_field_tag(options["type"] || field_type, options)
         end
       end
     end

http://github.com/stephencelis/rerails/tree/2-3-stable

So something like this would do the trick:

   <%= f.email_field :email %>

to do otherwise just adds more work, not only for detecting the browser, but for making sure the page layout and so on works in both versions.

Personally, my strategy is simply to not write HTML or CSS. I write to a DSL that is implemented based on what browser is being served, so there are no sniffer scripts in the pages themselves. True, this does mean the same, otherwise static pages, may need to get generated over and over, but this is where caching comes in.

With the date input type, don't my non HTML5 using visitors have to enter a string that will match what an HTML5 browser would send me? Otherwise I'll have to deal with two different date formats. I hope HTML5's spec decided on a clean, simple date format that is easy to type.

One plugin I'm missing, that this makes possible, is adding a "recent dates" box to the date-selector: when planning a vacation, I need to enter the same two dates (often 4-6 months in the future) on the websites of airlines, hotels, car rentals etc. over and over. That gets old really fast.

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339#section-5.6

Do you not think that IE will support HTML5 by the time the W3C makes it a proper Recommendation?

Microsoft seems to have picked up again on supporting such things, so it may happen, given how long it may be before HTML5 gets the W3C nod.

And the counter argument had been, no, browsers need to follow formally recognized standard, specifically what the W3C endorses. What's funny is ti see that toss aside now that it has become practical to ignore the W3C.

I expect HTML5 to become a W3C rec at some point, and Microsoft to follow along, but it still seems hollow for people to complain that Microsoft is not be so anxious to jump on an HTML5 implementation.

But, they may need to change their tune sooner than they'd like. Their marketshare is actually down to about 65%, and Firefox and Chrome gain new marketshare every day. HTML5 is very much in Google's interest, and they have the resources to influence things in that direction. I think the Chrome tv ads are just the beginning here.

You can ignore them though, as their numbers continue to dwindle.