There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of weeks about whether HTML5 should or shouldn’t be used yet – the W3C has said that because it’s still in development phase, not even official testing, people should hold off on developing sites in HTML5.

But, this site proves that the basic HTML5 code works so what’s all the fuss about? It seems that the functions that people like Apple are so keen to shout about are the ones that don’t yet work: the canvas function only works correctly in a few browsers (not IE or Firefox yet), the video and audio elements don’t have cross-browser compatibiility and the most popular browser on the planet still doesn’t have any core HTML5 functionality (even IE9 doesn’t conform to all the basic standards).

“The problem we’re facing right now is there is already a lot of excitement for HTML5, but it’s a little too early to deploy it because we’re running into interoperability issues,” including differences between video on devices, said the official, Philippe Le Hegaret, W3C interaction domain leader.

It’s been nearly 10 years since IE6 was launched and yet, as designers and front-end developers, we still have to construct workarounds and fixes to ensure that our sites work on it. I’ve recently been dealing with a large organisation that uses browser based software that the vendors will ONLY develop on IE6, still!

So, with many large companies and organisations still using Windows XP, the operating system that’s refusing to die, and with no hope of IE9 ever being installed as it only works on XP and above, it looks as though we’re going to have to write normal HTML and CSS for the foreseeable future. In fact, the W3C are giving the first official testing dates as mid-2011 and judging by their current rate of progress, maybe an official rollout in 2012 – 2013 we might not be able to fully support HTML5 development on all browsers and operating systems until 2015, without having to use hacks and javascript to fix any errors that might occur…

And finally, is it the end of Flash? Well… probably not. HTML5 Canvas looks good and the video and audio elements, when they work, should be excellent. But there are some things that Flash just does well – games and animations. I think for a true designer and animator HTML5 will always feel a bit clunky and Flash has everything needed right there: the design tools, the coding, music and sound effects import. Call me up in 5 years and remind me about this if I’m wrong!