Opera: HTML5 is 'immensely critical' for web

Opera - looking forward to HTML5, and beyond
Opera - looking forward to HTML5, and beyond

Opera's Phillip Grønvold has told TechRadar that the arrival of HTML5 over the next few years is 'immensely critical' for the internet, and will change everything from how long our phone batteries last to how the entire web is structured.

Grønvold, a product analyst for browser specialists Opera, is already looking forward to the final HTML5 standards being set, something that is unlikely to happen for 18 months or so.

HTML5 will allow browsers to utilise the computer's hardware more, using things like graphics processors to speed things up and allowing us to phase out plugins like Flash and JavaFX

Immensely critical

"HTML5 is immensely critical for the web," Grønvold said, "What I want to say is the Opera browser in 18 months is almost unrecognisable from Opera as it is now –bringing speed, performance, usability and true web integration.

"That's not so much that there's not the capability in technology but content and services are catching up to really take advantage of what has really been a static and in general over the last 20 years only interpretable language.

"So the problem of the web it that it is interpretable, and written poorly so you always have a web browser that is trying to process code on the fly that's written poorly on a system that's tied to brilliant hardware that if you just did it right would execute it in the blink of an eye."

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.