This specification is intended for authors of documents and scripts that use the features defined in this specification, implementers of tools that operate on pages that use the features defined in this specification, and individuals wishing to establish the correctness of documents or implementations with respect to the requirements of this specification.
This means that this document is written for people who create or use web pages and web applications that follow the rules and standards of HTML5. This document also helps people who want to check if their web pages or web applications are valid and compatible with HTML5.
This document is probably not suited to readers who do not already have at least a passing familiarity with web technologies, as in places it sacrifices clarity for precision, and brevity for completeness. More approachable tutorials and authoring guides can provide a gentler introduction to the topic.
This means that this document is not very easy to read or understand for beginners or people who do not know much about web development. This document focuses on being accurate and complete, rather than clear and concise.
In particular, familiarity with the basics of DOM is necessary for a complete understanding of some of the more technical parts of this specification. An understanding of Web IDL, HTTP, XML, Unicode, character encodings, JavaScript, and CSS will also be helpful in places but is not essential.
This means that some parts of this document require you to know some concepts and terms related to web development, such as:
- DOM: The Document Object Model, which is a representation of a web page as a tree of objects that can be manipulated by JavaScript.
- Web IDL: The Web Interface Definition Language, which is a language that defines how web browsers and web applications communicate with each other.
- HTTP: The Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is a protocol that defines how web browsers and web servers exchange data over the Internet.
- XML: The Extensible Markup Language, which is a language that uses tags and attributes to structure and store data.
- Unicode: A standard that defines a universal set of characters and symbols for all languages and scripts.
- Character encodings: Methods that convert characters and symbols into binary codes that can be stored and transmitted by computers.
- JavaScript: A scripting language that can add interactivity and functionality to web pages.
- CSS: Cascading Style Sheets, which is a language that can style and format the appearance of web pages.
