One week after Google open sourced its $124.6m VP8 video codec, Mozilla and Opera have called for its inclusion in the still-gestating HTML5 specification. As it stands, the HTML5 spec does not specify a video codec. Browser makers are free to use any codec they like, and the big names are split between the patent-backed H.264 and the open source Ogg Theora.

"This specification defines the 5th major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web: the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

"Just when we were all getting so snug and cozy in our Web 2.0 world, along comes the new HTML spec. And it's a dilly!"

The WHATWG has said that parts of HTML 5 will be incorporated into browsers as and when they are finalized. We won't need to wait until the whole specification is completed and approved to start using some of the features of HTML 5. But what are the features of HTML 5?

HTML is basically a standard for structuring and presenting content in the internet and HTML5 is the newest incarnation of HTML. HTML5 is supposed to have features like video playback which currently depends upon third-party(and proprietary) browser plug-ins like Adobe Flash.

"W3C today published an early draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web... «HTML is of course a very important standard,» said Tim Berners-Lee, author of the first version of HTML and W3C Director. «I am glad to see that the community of developers, including browser vendors, is working together to create the best possible path for the Web. To integrate the input of so many people is hard work, as is the challenge of balancing stability with innovation, pragmatism with idealism.» ..."

"Weston Ruter has created Web Forms 2, a cross-browser implementation of the WHATWG Web Forms 2.0 specification. This specification is currently a mature working draft and has been adopted by the W3C HTML Working Group to serve as a starting point for the next version of HTML. This implementation will follow the HTML 5 specification that evolves from the W3C process..."

"The HTML Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of HTML Design Principles. This document describes the set of guiding principles used by the HTML Working Group for the development of HTML5, expected to define the fifth major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web..."

HTML5 spec is expected to introduce new audio and video capabilities into the HTML language. However, it seems that Nokia and Apple have succeeded in removing Ogg Vorbis and Theora support from the current draft which decision has caused lots of heated political discussion. Some critics claim that the decision is mostly based on reluctance to back a standard that has no provision for including DRM, while others have mentioned potential patent uncertainties as the main reason not to back Ogg Vorbis and Theora.