It is time to move toward a future-friendly web. Our current device landscape is a plethora of desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, feature phones, smartphones, and more, but this is just the beginning. The rapid pace of technological change is accelerating, and our current processes, standards, and infrastructure are quickly reaching their breaking points. But while this era of ubiquitous connectivity creates new challenges, it also creates tremendous opportunities to reach people wherever they may be.

No one knows what the landscape will look like even just two years down the road, so it would be foolish to say that we can create anything that is truly future proof. But while there aren’t cut-and-dried prescriptive solutions for dealing with this increasing diversity, there are things we can do as web creators to better prepare for what’s in store.

We must acknowledge and embrace unpredictability to become more future friendly. We need to abandon comfortable assumptions that say disruption is temporary and that, given time, things will normalize. With more and more connected devices emerging every day, we’re entering an era of perpetual diversity and constant change. These facts require us to rethink the content we create and the contexts in which people interact with our products and services.

Are we there yet?

Fast. Secure. Responsive. Interactive. Stunningly beautiful. These are words that were not associated with the web until HTML5.

HTML5 introduces many cutting-edge features that enable developers to create apps and websites with the functionality, speed, performance, and experience of desktop applications. But unlike desktop applications, apps built on the web platform can reach a much broader audience using a wider array of devices. HTML5 accelerates the pace of your innovation and enables you to seamlessly roll out your latest work to all your users simultaneously.

HTML5 rocks for your users, too. It frees them from the hassles of having to install apps across multiple devices. They can start running a new app the instant they click a link or an icon. They don’t have to be bothered with hairy details like downloading the latest updates and making sure that they are working on the right version. Their data, work, tools, and entertainment follow them wherever they are. They are no longer bound to a specific device.

So why HTML5? With a reach of hundreds of millions of users (Google Chrome alone has more than 200 million active users)—and growing rapidly—the question is, why not HTML5?

WHAT IS HTML5?

Everything that makes the web sing.

HMTL5 is not a single thing or a monolithic technology. It is a collection of features, technologies, and APIs that brings the power of the desktop and the vibrancy of multimedia experience to the web—while amplifying the web’s core strengths of interactivity and connectivity.

HTML5 includes the fifth revision of the HTML markup language, CSS3, and a series of JavaScript APIs. Together, these technologies enable you to create complex applications that previously could be created only for desktop platforms.

HTML5 does not belong to a company or a specific browser. It has been forged by a community of people interested in evolving the web and a consortium of technological leaders that includes Google, Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, Facebook, IBM, HP, Adobe, and many others. The community and consortium continue to collaborate on universal browser standards to push web capabilities even further. The next generation of web apps can run high-performance graphics, work offline, store a large amount of data on the client, perform calculations fast, and take interactivity and collaboration to the next level.

Read the rest of the article here at HTML5 ROCKS

“We’ve also been thinking a ton about what the WordPress experience is like for people completely new to the software,” Mullenweg says. “Version 3.3 has significant improvements there with pointer tips for new features included in each update, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface.”

The new features include:

• A new drag-and-drop media uploader. The latest version of WordPress features a single media icon whereas before users had to click on the specific icon depending on the type of file they want to upload. The new uploader supports drag-and-drop allowing users to drag different types of media files from their desktop and drop them into the uploader. Now there is also an option to add multiple files at once, and once the file has been uploaded users can add information such as Title and Description.
• A new toolbar and hover navigation menus. The old dashboard header and the admin bar are now merged together into the new toolbar. The main menu has been improved to allow users to hover over the main menu items to see the submenus displayed in a vertical list for a single-click access to any screen.
• Improved co-editing. From now on, users won’t see a message informing them that someone else is editing the post unless the person is still on the editing screen.
• A new Tumblr importer. Users can now also import content from Tumblr to WordPress. This is done simply by going to “Tools → Import” where users can install the Tumblr importer to start importing posts and media from the platform.
• Help Section. The new version of WordPress includes revamped help tabs across the entire interface. Help tabs are located in the upper right corner, and provide information on how to use current screen with links to more assistance.
• Improved iPad support. WordPress 3.3 is comes with the improved dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablets with better touch support.

For developers, there is a new editor API, a new jQuery version, new ways to hook into the help screen, and more. More details about WordPress 3.3 “Sonny” can be found in the release notes.

Why do so many web professionals choose ExpressionEngine? Simple: It allows them to say yes to their clients and succeed on the web. ExpressionEngine doesn’t force you to work a certain way or impose limitations on your site design, structure, or content. Its flexibility allows you to build a website that not only fulfills your needs and creative vision today, but will grow and scale as your business needs change in the future.

They are very proud that some of the best websites in the world are powered by ExpressionEngine. It’s a testament to the trust that they’ve earned among so many web professionals and the power and flexibility of ExpressionEngine.

Commercial Product + Open Source = Perfection

Best of Both Worlds

ExpressionEngine is a commercial product built on an Open Source foundation, giving you the best of both worlds. As a commercial product, ExpressionEngine is supported by a team of committed developers and technical support specialists. With its Open Source foundation, ExpressionEngine’s codebase is 100% open, transparent, and extensible. For a decade we’ve operated on this effective business model. Our customer satisfaction and growth is a testament to its success.

Commercial Advantages

We pride ourselves on listening and responding quickly to our customers and providing world-class technical support. Because of that, we’ve built an incredibly loyal following among top web professionals, business users, and independent web publishers. Your purchase of ExpressionEngine directly funds our development and support team, so your satisfaction is our number one priority. You’ll never be left out in the cold trying to meet a tight deadline. We’re here for you!

Open Source Foundation

The core of ExpressionEngine is built on CodeIgniter, our Open Source PHP framework, used by hundreds of thousands of PHP developers worldwide. CodeIgniter has become the application framework of choice for many of the premiere PHP developers in the world. Why? Because CodeIgniter is fast, lightweight, and open. You simply get more done in less time. Don’t take our word for it, ask the creator of PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf, who praised CodeIgniter for being fast and light.

You can buy the Smashing Book right now. And in case you didn’t know, it’s available here exclusively. The book is available and can be shipped right away.

The book has 313 pages in all, full of practical knowledge for designers and Web developers. It contains 10 chapters and is printed in full color. The book is a paperback and is 8.27 × 5.5 inches (21 × 14 cm). It contains colorful illustrations created by designers from the Russia-based SoftFacade (Anton Zykin, Dmitry Tsozik, Anna Myagkova).