Lately there has been a lot of buzz around HTML5 Web Sockets, which defines a
full-duplex communication channel that operates through a single socket over
the Web. HTML5 Web Sockets is not just another incremental enhancement to
conventional HTTP communications; it represents a colossal advance,
especially for real-time, event-driven web applications.
HTML5 Web Sockets provides such a dramatic improvement from the old,
convoluted "hacks" that are used to simulate a full-duplex connection in a
browser that it prompted Google's Ian Hickson - the HTML5 specification lead
- to say:
"Reducing kilobytes of data to 2 bytes...and reducing latency from 150ms to
50ms is far more than marginal. In fact, these two factors alone are enough
to make Web Sockets seriously interesting to Google."
Let's look at how HTML5 Web Sockets can offer such an incredibly dramatic
reduction of... (more)
HTML5 introduces Application Cache, a new feature that enables you to make
web apps and sites available offline. The new specification also provides an
easy way to prefetch some or all of your web app's assets (HTML files,
images, CSS, JavaScript, and so on) while the client is still online. During
this caching process, files are stored in an application cache, where they
sit ready for future offline use.
Compare this to regular browser caching, in which pages that you visit are
cached in the browser's cache based on server-side rules and client-side
configuration. But-even if w... (more)
HTML5 WebSocket is an important new technology that helps you build engaging,
interactive, real-time web applications quickly and reliably. Sure, HTML5
WebSockets may be the best thing since sliced bread, but is this new
technology right for you?
This article identifies five types of web applications that will benefit from
HTML5 WebSockets. So, without further ado... give me five!
The Five Signs
Your web application has data that must flow bi-directional simultaneously.
Your web application must scale to large numbers of concurrent users. Your
web application must extend TCP-bas... (more)
Peter Lubbers is the Director of Documentation and Training at Kaazing where he oversees all aspects of documentation and training. He is the co-author of the Apress book Pro HTML5 Programming and teaches HTML5 training courses. An HTML5 and WebSocket enthusiast, Peter frequently speaks at international events. 
David Lucas
Cathy Lopez
Shaul Efraim
Terence Martin Breslin
Cory Marchand
David Hughes
James Carlini
John Iffert
Dan Stolts
Joe Zeto
