Thanks to HTML5 and CSS3, many websites now support features that were previously simply impossible – even with Java. And HTML5 doesn't just improve website rendering on desktop PCs; it also aids in efficient development of web applications for mobile devices. For these reasons alone, HTML5 will doubtlessly dominate the future of web applications. Thanks to HTML5, web browsers no longer need additional plugins in order to play video or audio web content.

HTML5 and CSS3 open up completely new possibilities for developers, like thread programming with web workers, direct access to the filesystem with <localStorage>, a sophisticated offline mode, two-dimensional graphics with the <canvas> element, and animations with CSS3.

Several professional and free tools are already available to help you get started with HTML5 web programming.

[...]