Yesterday the W3C decided to release a logo for HTML5. Nothing wrong with that you might say, and I would agree with you. They have created a badge builder which allows you to specify which specific parts of HTML5 your website uses and enable users to see at a glance (provided they’re familiar with the icons of course) what you have used when building your site.
Great. Splendid.
The W3C has always provided icons in the past to place on your website to indicate validation for the various versions of HTML, XHTML, CSS and others. And although this particular logo doesn’t indicate validity, it is in fact an improvement on it.
But. There’s a problem.
The logo is a general-purpose visual identity for a broad set of open web technologies, including HTML5, CSS, SVG, WOFF, and others
Last year I wrote about the confusion surrounding HTML5 and one of the main points I attempted to drive home was that CSS3 was not part of HTML5. I’m not the only one to underline this, Bruce Lawson says as much, there’s even a website dedicated to it!
But, as I was saying, there’s a problem with this new HTML5 logo from the W3C. If you go to the badge builder, there’s a selection of tick boxes for you to show off what parts of HTML5 your site uses. And one of those options is CSS3/styling.
As I’ve said, CSS3 is not part of HTML5. But the W3C appears to be supporting the fact that it is, thus adding to the confusion and in my eyes bowing down to the marketing types who don’t understand such things. Developers do, and yet the W3C seems to be trying to convince the developers to also shove CSS3 under the HTML5 umbrella.
Sorry W3C, but this developer is not going down that route.
It gets even worse.
The FAQ itself describes the logo as:
a general-purpose visual identity for a broad set of open web technologies, including HTML5, CSS, SVG, WOFF, and others.
which lumps almost everything and anything under the HTML5 name. I despair.
Don’t get me wrong, I will use the HTML5 logo, it’s nice, it can be vertical or horizontal, you can download the images and make your own, with different colours etc, so it’s very flexible and aesthetically pleasing and will fit in with almost any design, should you choose to use it.
But sorry W3C. I’m putting my hands over my ears like a child and am simply not listening. CSS3 is not part of HTML5, and neither are SVG and WOFF for that matter.
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