The HTML5 Logo: what do you think?
It's been an interesting week for the web design community to say the least. The W3C has revealed a new logo for HTML5 to help designers and developers "tell the world" they use HTML5. The logo was designed by the design agency of Ocupop, and there under license Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, a permissive license, allowing "remixing" licensed work. Logo has been made available on stickers, and t-shirts and there is a Gallery promotion already examples of logo use.
Official site of the logo includes a 'badge Builder' customizes its direction and you can add additional icons to indicate support for various technologies that have become partners of HTML5.
According to the W3C Blog, the purpose of the logo is as follows:
We intend to make it a versatile for HTML5, CSS, SVG, WOFF and other banner technologies constitute an open web platform. The logo does not have a specific meaning. is not intended to imply compliance or the validity, for example. The logo represents "Web platform" in a very general sense.
This definition encompasses met opposition from Jeremy Keith. According to Keith, while he approves the creation of the logo, he disagreed with the blurring of lines separating web technologies that the logo is intended to represent. Keith doesn't have a problem with the media using the term "HTML5? to cover this vast area, but he believes that it is not appropriate to make this kind of terminology in the web development industry."
Supporting the definition, Ocupop Michael Nieling Creative Director said that "HTML5 must a consistent and standardized visual vocabulary to serve as a framework for conversations, presentations and explanations."
Keith concerns are valid. The logo will certainly strengthen increasing awareness of HTML5 (which is something we all want), but it is difficult to accept that something like WOFF, which is a web font format and has nothing to do with HTML5, spec fall within"HTML5?." Similarly, CSS3 does not belong to this scope. But curiously, you'll notice in this quote from the W3C blog as "versatile banner" includes "css" - is not just what's new in CSS3, that is all CSS. I do not see many people being too happy about it.
And if this were not enough, before the community of web design opportunity to expire, the WHATWG Blog published a post titled "HTML is the new HTML5? announcing two changes: (1) the HTML specification will be called simply" HTML "(abandonment of the"5");" and (2) the spec is considered a "standard of living", not only a draft, abandoning the use of the "snapshot" development model
This article is not intended to provide much too much of an opinion on these issues, as it is still early. But we know that many in the industry of wish to express their thoughts, so we'll encourage provide you feedback on the logo, its stated purpose and further developments on the term "html5" announced on the WHATWG blog. It was certainly an important week in web development, so we'd like to get your thoughts on all this.
Last updated January 25/2011:
Clearly end of last week, just before the article was published, FAQ change in response to the fury:
Now its meaning excludes non-HTML5 technologies leaving those for additional icons. The FAQ says:
TweetThis logo represents HTML5, the cornerstone for modern Web applications.
