Mr B has decided to dip his tippy-toe into the waters of HTML5. But a good source would be nice. Canvas sounds sexy, largely because I don't understand it, but methinks I should start on the basics first. So, which of these? Or otherwise?

Taaaa!

Don't get a book, it's probably already out of date.

The website html5doctor.com is a decent resource.

If you're gonna learn about Canvas, you'll need to learn some JavaScript too, otherwise you won't be able to do much with your nice shiny <canvas> tag. It's just a rectangle on which you can draw stuff via JavaScript.

Contrary to what Peter says though, I do recommend getting a book (dunno which one, not read any of them), if only because it's handy having something there you can pick up and refer to whenever you need, even when you're not at the computer.

Oh and if you want something to help you learn JS, Eloquent JavaScript is pretty good if you don't have much experience with programming in general. Even if you do, it's still quite useful. (I have the paperback version, but the full one is online too.)

edit:
Forgot to say, "HTML5" can mean more than one thing – lots of people seem to use it to mean "HTML 5 + CSS3 + Canvas". By itself, HTML5 is just a bunch of new tags, like <nav> and <section>, which isn't that exciting but does make your page more meaningful to search engines and stuff (rather than it being a forest of non-semantic <div>s).

How often do you need to refer to a book about HTML5 when you're not at the computer?

That aside, some people learn better from books than sites, it's true.

It can be useful on long journeys and such :C

I can't take any of that stuff in unless I've a nearby computer to try it out on. I guess if you were travelling with laptop but without internet for some reason then that'd apply.

That site seems a bit bloggy. I think I'd rather start with something more methodical, although my natural tendancy is to jump in with the interesting stuff to start.

I have done some JS/DOM scripting, but limited in terms of what is probably needed for canvas. I agree with the having something handy nature of a book, plus I find it difficult to read too much on screen, a paper copy is more amenable to me.

 

And although interested in CSS3 and canvas, I'm also interested in finding out how HTML5 differs from HTML4 (semantic and sloppy tags aside).

This page sums up the differences between 4 and 5, albeit in a rather terse manner. A proper book would be useful for explaining why any of it is relevant and how it could be used, though, which I'm guessing is what you're interested in.

Well that's interesting:

The blogginess is mostly just their presentation style - it certainly doesn't detract from the fact that they're far more likely to give you a decent answer than a random fad-riding book churned out by a publishing house whilst things were still being decided.

For methodical, use the element index - the new/changed elements in HTML5 have an "our prognosis" link for more details on it.

For jumping in to the interesting stuff, scan through the archives for interesting looking stuff.

If you want portable, get a portable computer and use a web crawler to create an offline copy.

If you don't like reading from screens, get a kindle or similar device that gives you that crappy e-ink stuff.


If you *still* want a book, get one written by an author who isn't writing about the subject for the first time, and who has a website indicating that they know what they're talking about.


The Up and Running book by Mark Pilgrim might be ok in that respect, but it's also nearly a year old.

The other one is newer, but it's by two ex-Flash developers, and is their first book on the subject, so (unless you've had it strongly recommended) I'd not have it on any shortlist.


But I'd still recommend not spending money on a unchangeable paper copy for something that is still being moulded.

Indeed, the W3C pages are worthwhile, but pretty hard work. Thanks for the link though, I'll look into that in more depth when I'm at work and therefore don't have anything better to do.

Thanks Peter, but I'm one of those weirdoes that likes a book next to me while I work on the computer. Strange, no?

 

But you raise a good point about bandwagon jumpers. If Danny Goodman had revised his Dynamic HTML reference since 2006 to include HTML5 I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. The first two editions are indispensable to me. In fact, I might just get the third edition because it covers Ajax and I know little about it.

I've found that the Mozilla Developer Network is a good reference, btw, should you want to look things up.

In fact, I have a whole pile of bookmarks relating to webdev :O One really nice one is jsFiddle, which lets you experiment with HTML, CSS and/or JS (and a library like jQuery or Dojo) without having to set up a whole page to do so. It's great for trying out quick ideas.

Oooh, that jsFiddle link looks good, thankee!