HTML5

I'm learning more and more about HTML 5 and I love it. I'm mostly self-taught with this web coding thing and I like the fact that the W3C and WHATWG decided to maintain the flow of web development rather than try to force changes to the way we do business.

From the sounds of it, HTML5 will be backwards compatible, will integrate video and audio, AND if browsers/gadgets/phones decide to follow these guidelines, we won't have to code in special ways for each device.

The part I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is the length of time it will take to get it recommended.... I've seen the websites like ishtml5readyyet.com where we are "years away." But the world is already moving in that direction. It is confusing to me that there are delays when it is just an evolution of the working methods we already have.

Privacy and the web

So, I'm rethinking some of the sites to which I am a member. Recently I've blogged about Empire Avenue but what amazes me is how deep they are finding my social media connections. I got "credit" for liking a video on youtube over a year ago. That made me think, well, where else have I visited in the past three years, five years, decade? I'm an early adopter of the internet, been using it all along.

So, I started looking. I found a "website" I created for a class (took it down); found a blog I used for testing stuff (took it down), remembered I joined a community to help with some health and wellness goals (decimated the personal info on it but stayed a member); am checking my personal settings on facebook again (I check that sucker weekly, they change the rules too often) and am thinking that I probably need to do a bit more searching to make sure I'm not missing anything else.

The most important thing to me is that I keep my private life private and my social life protected. I want to share my thoughts and learn about yours, I want to be more productive at work and share in global thoughts and learning, but I have to remember at the end of the day, keeping these separate protects my family the most.

PSU Web Conference

So, I've been following #psuweb11 for the past two days on twitter. Loving it. Lots of good info, some great links and I've been able to learn some facts remotely. Was looking forward to the #hesms live conference this afternoon. Unfortunately there are technical difficulties and the live stream keeps fading out. I can see/hear part of it, but I don't quite get the whole picture.

Of course, I'm just being grumpy cause I wanted to participate live. This is really cool: a conference of experts, sharing their thoughts live and free! This is why the highered community is so great... they try something new all the time (live conference), they have a back-up plan (video to be posted later) and they still keep the out of towners in the loop (live chat and responding to twitter).