Reputation:

Where is the official HTML 5 API?

For JavaScript it seems easy. If you want to know the API for the language itself just consult ES5. For a library such as jquery just check out www.api.jquery.com.

But for HTML 5, where is the go to place to look for the API for a specefic tag?

Suppose I want to know the interface for <video>

My guess is

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

but this is from the perspective of a company - Mozilla. Is there a published API by those that release the specs?

Can we use <video> as an example?

Here is one useful site I found that states that it parses the different specefications:

http://html5index.org/

but it looks like is is just for the JS portion.

I found it using this google search:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=html5+api&spell=1

I have been using w3schools b.c. it has the best layout, but I've heard many on SO say not to use this.

If not, what is the go to resource?

Upvotes: 2

Answers (4)

DavidRR

Reputation: 19397

The W3C published its official Recommendation of HTML5 on 28 October 2014.

There you will find a complete reference for all HTML5 elements including the video element.

Upvotes: 0

Jukka K. Korpela

Reputation: 201568

There is no official HTML5 API, or official HTML5, so far. What people regard as “de facto standard” is one of the following:

W3C HTML5 CR, a Candidate Recommendation, which means that it is not expected to change substantially before it becomes W3C Recommendation (which is as official as things like this ever get), except that some features marked as being “at risk” may be removed due to lack of implementation.
W3C HTML 5.1 Nightly, an Editor’s Draft, a further development of W3C HTML5. As the name says, it may and will change daily.
WHATWG HTML Living Standard. Largely compatible with the W3C documents but with some minor and some major differences. Apparently never expected to become any more official than it is now: a mutable document maintained by Ian Hixie and his orchestra (the WHATWG group).

Note that even the most official of these, HTML5 CR, says: “This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.” In reality, it’s more stable and closer to a “standard” than this may suggest.

All the documents mentioned above are incomplete in the sense that they cite many documents, e.g. DOM specifications and drafts, leaving essential parts to be defined in them. And the cited documents may be very mutable and even sketchy. For example, WHATWG URL Living Standard is cited, instead of the Internet-standard on URLs (URIs), and instead of the various old DOM specs and drafts, new emerging documents are cited. Currently, HTML5 CR cites W3C DOM4 CR.

Upvotes: 2