At long last, HTML5 today reached the official Recommendation stage, meaning the World Wide Web Consortium finally endorsed it as an official standard, even as the technology already is in use in browsers. But there is more work to be done, with the "Open Web Platform" expected to focus on security, streaming, and push notifications.

Formal ratification by W3C builds more confidence in HTML5. "It's a milestone to mark seven years of work that a lot of people have put into getting a standard at W3C published for HTML," says Michael Smith, who has been involved in development of HTML5 at W3C. "For a lot of people, it is important to have a stable version of the specification that's ratified in some way by a standards organization," he said.

Smith expects HTML5 to soon become an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard as well. He and other dignitaries gathered at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley on Monday evening to mark the release of HTML5.

HTML5 has provided standards-based development technologies for "modern" Web applications with highly visual effects. Proprietary plug-in technologies, such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, have seen their importance dwindle in the face of the HTML5 juggernaut. Apple famously barred Flash from its iOS devices, relying on HTML5 instead.

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