Five online tools that simplify HTML5 coding

By David Gitonga

Takeaway: HTML5 is revolutionizing website and web application development. Developers can benefit immensely from online tools that enhance and simplify coding in HTML5.

By now, you have probably heard all the hype about HTML5 and how to implement it on your Web projects. The addition of new tags that define page structures, support for multimedia content that includes features previously delegated to plugins like Flash and support for error handling can sometimes be overwhelming.  HTML5 makes a developer’s work easier and learning how to code in HTML5 will equip you with the valuable knowledge as its adoption continues to pick up.
Below are five tools that can help you learn and enhance your HTML5 coding skills:

Initializr
If you want to get started on a new HTML5 project, Initializr will help you do it  in seconds. Initializr generates customizable templates in HTML5. Using the HTML5 boilerplate allows you to skip the boring stuff and provides the tools necessary to start developing using the templates provided immediately.  It provides three pre-configured options to choose from:  Classic, Responsive or a Bootstrap. Demos and repository codes are available all the way. The next step involves fine-tuning the template and adding support libraries. Your finished template is now ready for download.

HTML5 cheat sheets
With new additions and changes always being made to HTML5 it can be a little daunting to keep track or even remember all the new features. Some of these features include new tags, Event Handler content attributes and browser support.  A HTML cheat sheet can be a handy tool for a busy developer. This link offers developers cheat sheets that can be enlarged, printed or shared. Whether you are a developer or not, these cheat sheets can be used as reference guides for your HTML5 projects anytime.

HTML5 Reset
If you are looking to save time when starting new projects, then HTML5 Reset will help you do that. The website offers a set of HTML, CSS and JavaScript files that will help get your project off the ground pretty fast. A blank HTML5 WordPress theme is offered to anyone designing and developing for the WordPress platform. The HTML5 theme includes HTML5 Markup, CSS declaration elements, a widget sidebar and built-in support for JQuery and Analytics.
HTML5 demos and examples

One of the best ways of learning programming is seeing your code in action. The HTML5 Demos website lists example demos in HTML5 that include the use of the <canvas> tag, drag-n-drop functionality, and chat features implementation among other things. The website shows the demo, what browsers support it, and the actual code used. This is a great resource for anyone looking to learn from experienced developers already using HTML5.

LimeJS
LimeJS is a HTML5 game framework that supports all desktop browsers and modern touch-screens. Built with the ‘Closure’ library from Google that has been used to develop Gmail, Google Docs and other Google products, LimeJS is fast, feature rich and integrates well with other developer tools making it highly flexible. The LimeJS website provides the complete class documentation and JavaScript library files for the framework.