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Today, several elements in HTML 4.01 are obsolete, never used, or not used the way they were intended. All those elements are removed or re-written in HTML5.

To better handle today’s internet needs, HTML5 has also included new elements for drawing graphics, displaying media content, for better page structure and better form handling, and several new APIs, such as drag and drop, get the geographical position of a user, store local data, and more.

Below is a list of the new HTML elements, introduced by HTML5, and a description of what they are used for.

The New <canvas> Element
Note: The links in the tables below point to our HTML5 Reference. However, you will learn more about these new elements in this tutorial.

Tag Description
<canvas> Defines graphic drawing using JavaScript

New Media Elements
Tag Description

• <audio> Defines sound or music content
• <embed> Defines containers for external applications (like plug-ins)
• <source> Defines sources for <video> and <audio>
• <track> Defines tracks for <video> and <audio>
• <video> Defines video or movie content

New Form Elements
Tag Description

• <datalist> Defines pre-defined options for input controls
• <keygen> Defines a key-pair generator field (for forms)
• <output> Defines the result of a calculation

New Semantic/Structural Elements
HTML5 offers new elements for better structure:

Tag Description

• <article> Defines an article in the document
• <aside> Defines content aside from the page content
• <bdi> Defines a part of text that might be formatted in a different direction from other text outside it
• <details> Defines additional details that the user can view or hide
• <dialog> Defines a dialog box or window
• <figcaption> Defines a caption for a <figure> element
• <figure> Defines self-contained content, like illustrations, diagrams, photos, code listings, etc.
• <footer> Defines a footer for the document or a section
• <header> Defines a header for the document or a section
• <main> Defines the main content of a document
• <mark> Defines marked or highlighted text
• <menuitem> Defines a command/menu item that the user can invoke from a popup menu
• <meter> Defines a scalar measurement within a known range (a gauge)
• <nav> Defines navigation links in the document
• <progress> Defines the progress of a task
• <rp> Defines what to show in browsers that do not support ruby annotations
• <rt> Defines an explanation/pronunciation of characters (for East Asian typography)
• <ruby> Defines a ruby annotation (for East Asian typography)
• <section> Defines a section in the document
• <summary> Defines a visible heading for a <details> element
• <time> Defines a date/time
• <wbr> Defines a possible line-break

Removed Elements
The following HTML 4.01 elements has been removed from HTML5:

• <acronym>
• <applet>
• <basefont>
• <big>
• <center>
• <dir>
• <font>
• <frame>
• <frameset>
• <noframes>
• <strike>
• <tt>

The previous version of HTML, HTML 4.01, came in 1999, and the internet has changed significantly since then.

HTML5 was designed to replace both HTML 4, XHTML, and the HTML DOM Level 2.

It was specially designed to deliver rich content without the need for additional plugins. The current version delivers everything from animation to graphics, music to movies, and can also be used to build complicated web applications.

HTML5 is also cross-platform. It is designed to work whether you are using a PC, or a Tablet, a Smartphone, or a Smart TV.

How Did HTML5 Get Started?
HTML5 is a cooperation between the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG).

WHATWG was working with web forms and applications, and W3C was working with XHTML 2.0. In 2006, they decided to cooperate and create a new version of HTML.

Some rules for HTML5 were established:

New features should be based on HTML, CSS, DOM, and JavaScript
The need for external plugins (like Flash) should be reduced
Error handling should be easier than in previous versions
Scripting has to be replaced by more markup
HTML5 should be device-independent
The development process should be visible to the public
The HTML5 <!DOCTYPE>
In HTML5 there is only one DOCTYPE declaration, and it is very simple:

<!DOCTYPE html>

A Minimum HTML5 Document
Below is a simple HTML5 document, with the minimum of required tags:

[php]
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>

<body>
Content of the document……
</body>
</html>
[/php]

HTML5 – New Features
Some of the most interesting new features in HTML5 are:

The <canvas> element for 2D drawing
The <video> and <audio> elements for media playback
Support for local storage
New content-specific elements, like <article>, <footer>, <header>, <nav>, <section>
New form controls, like calendar, date, time, email, url, search
Browser Support for HTML5
All major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera) support the new HTML5 elements and APIs, and continue to add new HTML5 features to their latest versions.

The HTML 5 working group includes AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, and hundreds of other vendors.

HTML5 References
At W3Schools you will find complete references with all HTML4/HTML5 tags, global attributes, standard events, and more.