Microsoft has raised questions and concerns about proposals for the new version of HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
In a mailing list posting on Friday, the software giant set out a number of points relating to the HTML 5 draft for the web-page description standard that was last formally updated in 1999. The move by Microsoft adds weight to efforts to update HTML, which have largely been driven by Apple, Google, Opera, and Mozilla.
"As part of our planning for future work, the IE team is reviewing the current editor's draft of the HTML 5 spec and gathering our thoughts. We want to share our feedback and discuss this in the working group," Internet Explorer programme manager Adrian Bateman said in the message.
"I will post our notes as we collect them so we can iterate on our thinking more quickly. At this stage we have more questions than answers, but I believe that discussing them in public is the best way to make progress."
The draft form of HTML 5 includes a number of enhancements, including several designed to make the web a better foundation for applications, not just static web pages.
Among the HTML 5 features are built-in video and audio, the ability to store data on a local computer to enable use of web applications even when offline, Web Workers that can perform computational chores in the background without bogging down web application responsiveness, Canvas for creating sophisticated two-dimensional graphics, and drag-and-drop for better web application user interfaces.
The formal HTML standard is under the governance of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Microsoft's Chris Wilson is a co-chairman of the W3C group developing HTML. Much of the groundwork for HTML 5 has been established by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (Whatwg), which browser makers launched to address the future direction of XHTML 2.
Microsoft is behind the ContentEditable technology in HTML 5, which allows elements of web pages to be edited through a browser. Microsoft said its newest browser, Internet Explorer 8, also supports these HTML 5 components: the DOM Store, Cross Document Messaging, Cross Domain Messaging, and Ajax Navigation.
Google, Apple, and Mozilla have been promoting HTML 5 features in their latest browsers. Microsoft has taken a more cautious line.
"The support of ratified standards [that web developers] can use is something that we are extremely supportive of," said Amy Barzdukas, general manager for IE, in a July interview. "In some cases, it can be premature to start claiming support for standards that are not yet in fact standards."
