HTML 5 Browser Support
HTML 5 Compatible Browsers
Modern browsers make it easy to check for updates and to upgrade to new browser versions and releases. Therefore, rather than creating a version with a lot of new features (along with any bugs!) over a fairly long period of time, development for many browsers is now using an evolutionary development model, with new functionality, such as support for HTML 5 features, constantly being added and released.
The following browsers support HTML 5 to various extents:
- Firefox
- Internet Explorer 9
- Opera
- WebKit-based browsers, such as Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and the mobile browsers in iOS devices (iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad), Nokia phones, Samsung phones, Palm, BlackBerry and other mobile devices
There are a few known issues with some of the browsers.
- Firefox
- In Firefox for Windows, a page containing the <canvas> tag such as HTML <canvas> How To will not be rendered at all (Firefox Bug #647863). Firefox for the Mac will successfully display the page however.
- Internet Explorer 8
- Internet Explorer 8 does not support HTML 5. Therefore, it is highly recommended to upgrade to IE 9.
Developing HTML 5 Web Sites
Firefox is a good browser for web developers who are developing HTML 5 code because there are three helpful indicators on the right hand side of the tool bar as shown in the screen capture below. You can mouse over them to get a pop-up tool tip showing what the indicators mean. The first one should be a green check mark indicating that the page is in being displayed in Standards Compliant Mode. The other two should also be green indicating the page is free from CSS errors and free from JavaScript errors, respectively.
