HTML5 introduced new elements and attributes for a neater structure, smarter forms, and richer media; this make the life of a developer much easier. HTML5 features are classified into several groups based on their function, and the new structural elements fall under the group semantics, which include structural elements, media elements, attributes, form types, link relation types, semantics for internationalization, and microdata for additional semantics. There is a big list of additions and enhancements in HTML5, all with the aim of better presenting the content on the web. You will use many of these when developing apps for Windows 8; the difference and, moreover, the advantage of using it for Windows 8 development is that you do not have to worry about the browser's compatibility, at least at the level of Windows Store apps, since Windows 8 is an HTML5 platform that uses the most recent web standards. Everything that you use from HTML5 and CSS3 is provided for you in your code and is guaranteed to work in the application. And the latest version of Visual Studio (VS 2012) includes a new HTML and CSS editor that offers full support for HTML5 and CSS3 elements and snippets.

In this chapter we will be covering the following topics: