W3C Releases Simplified HTML5 Spec for Web Developers

There's been much talk about HTML5 and its related technologies, but, while developers may be using HTML5 features and code, few have actually read the specifications. W3C is moving to change that with a version of the yet-to-be ratified standard aimed at web developers, or web authors as the paper calls them.

"This document is a strict subset of the full HTML5 specification that omits user-agent (UA) implementation details," the document's abstract reads.

"It is targeted toward Web authors and others who are not UA implementers and who want a view of the HTML specification that focuses more precisely on details relevant to using the HTML language to create Web documents and Web applications," it explains.

The main reason why the full HTML5 specs are hard to read is because they have a lot of technical details aimed at browser makers looking to implement support for the standard, but which are of no interest or use to developers wanting to use HTML5.

The W3C, the official body handling web-related standards, is hardly the first to offer a simplified version of the HTML5 specs, the WHATWG has already released a HTML5 spec document aimed at web developers as well.

The new W3C document does away with all of the details that might interest browser maker, but those sections are removed automatically so some details may be lost in the 'translation.'

This is why the W3C warn that if there are disagreements between this document and the full HTML5 specification, the full spec should be the one trusted.

"If the documents disagree, this is a bug in the redaction process and the unredacted full HTML specification takes precedence," the W3C warns.

What's more, although this should probably go without saying, browser makers are encouraged to check out the full spec as it's the only one that offers the details they're interested in. [via Webmonkey]