Is it time to switch for HTML5 and CSS3? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here: 开发者_StackOverflow Closed 11 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:

Should i be using HTML5 and CSS3?

How do you decide if you need to use html5 and css3? and what will be the pros and cons in choosing that approach.

Pros and cons I can think of:

Pros:

• cleaner codes
• support for @font-face
• shadows and rounded corner
• animations

Cons:

• not all browsers supports

Can you help me decide? How do you decide if you're in my situation?

Thanks!

---

It won't be time to switch to "HTML5 and CSS3" for a very long time indeed.

It is time to look carefully at the features added by HTML 5 and CSS 3 and decide, on a case by case basis based on:

• Browser support
• Consequences of using them in browsers that don't support them
• Benefits gained
• Fallback options available

… which specific features it is worth using today.

---

A well designed site should always degrade gracefully and both HTML and CSS support this. The goal should not be to make your look fantastic in older browsers - only to make your site USEABLE in older browsers. A well designed site should be useable with CSS turned off.

---

I think a clear YES can come only after the target browsers are compatible. However, if my target browser supports the specific features of HTML5 and my development is limited to these supported features, HTML5 can be used.

---

Some people still use browsers once used by the ancient egyptians, like IE6, and they will not be able to view your pages (and specifically new styles/tags).

If you have a public website, accessable to virtually anybody, I suggest waiting for at least a couple of years before the big convert.

If, on the other hand, you have a controllable group of users, like the intranet site I'm working on, you can easily enforce the use of more modern browsers that support this, like Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, of Internet Explorer 9 (just released).

---

I believe it is entirely down to who you are targeting. If you are targeting developers, Stack Overflow for example, then I think you can use the new technologies. If you really need to display a message to upgrade then I am sure developers would understand.

You should not use it for general sites for something such as a shop which has a very wide audience. This is because a lot of them would be using IE 6 - 8. The fact that no one on XP (my whole office + pretty much everyone else I know) can upgrade to IE9 which supports some features is frustrating too.

So I don't think there will be a definitive day where everyone can use it. It is just a case of looking at the market share of browsers and your target audience and deciding if it is worth giving 99% of people a better experience and ignoring the other 1%. Although I am sure those figures are completely off, it is probably a lot worse.

In conclusion, it depends on your audience and if you are willing to not support a varying number of users.