W3C Reinstates HTML5 Element After Backlash

Just to show that nothing is set in stone even at this rather late stage, the HTML5 <time> element was marked for removal last week, after HTML5 standard editor Ian Hickson decided that it wasn't seeing much use and that people were not even using it for its intended purposes.

But the announcement caused quite a stir among web developers and quite a lot of backlash. Enough to get the W3C, who oversees the standardization of HTML5, to back down on its proposal and reinstate the <time> element.

The <time> element is supposed to add semantic time data to HTML5 code, but there are a few issues and ambiguities about it.

However, it will remain in the W3C standard even as it is fleshed out. At the same time, that's not to say it will remain in the WHATWG version of HTML5.