What HTML5 skills do you need to get hired?

One important aspect of HTML that is crucial to know is the ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) definition. It shows that the developer is aware of web accessibility which is a key consideration in modern web development. With ARIA you demonstrate your ability to create inclusive web experiences. This knowledge not only highlights the technical skills but also reflects the commitment to user-centric design, setting you apart in job interviews.

A foundational skill in web development is grasping the syntax and semantics of HTML5. Syntax encompasses the rules of structuring HTML elements and attributes, while semantics delves into their meaning and communication to browsers, search engines, and assistive tech. Mastery entails crafting valid, well-formed, and semantic HTML5 code aligned with web development's best practices and standards. This proficiency ensures your ability to construct effective, accessible, and search-engine-friendly web content.

You need to know HTML5 like the back of your hand and be really good at troubleshooting. Make sure your code is concise simple and ensure that it is Google compliant and not clunky. Be careful and use your IDE, and comment your code when needed while working in the team. Make sure that you’re code has end tags. Also, make sure you use compliant accessibility based code.

Hiring and doing the actual job are two different things. Nobody knows what employers want. They are not transparent and often the people putting the job requisitions together have no idea and use the wrong keywords. In terms of doing the actual job, learning everything in HTML5.

The best way I have described this in the past is, a button is always a <button>, no matter how you want it to look. Use the correct HTML Elements for the correct use case and style them after. Learn as many of the HTML Elements as possible and what they can do for you. Validate your HTML using tools, W3C validator and WebAim Wave are two examples.

I like to highlight the benefits of using TailwindCSS. Often, HTML and CSS go hand in hand, and being able to style directly in the class of the HTML tag with TailwindCSS is incredibly pragmatic. It reduces context switching, which is the mental shift developers have to make when moving from HTML to a separate stylesheet. Over time, this leads to more streamlined code and almost always results in less CSS bloat and a smaller bundle size. Additionally, TailwindCSS promotes the use of utility classes which helps in maintaining consistency across the application. Overall, TailwindCSS is a powerful tool for keeping our styles organized and our application’s performance optimized.

A core skill in web development is grasping HTML5's syntax and semantics. Syntax entails rules for structuring HTML elements and attributes, while semantics pertains to their meaning and communication with browsers, search engines, and assistive tech. Proficiency involves crafting valid, well-formed, and semantic HTML5 code aligned with industry best practices. This ensures creation of effective, accessible, and search-friendly web content.

What to Know: Be proficient in using HTML5's layout tags like <section>, <nav>, and <main>. Understand CSS3 media queries for responsive design. Employability Factor: Critical for front-end and useful for full-stack developers. Affects user engagement and accessibility.

Creating responsive layouts using HTML5 Utilizing new elements and attributes Adapt designs to various devices efficiently - Use <header>, <nav>, <section>, <article> - Employ CSS3 properties and media queries - Ensure functionality on any platform Utilize HTML5 and CSS3 for responsive web design.

HTML is for semantic structure, while CSS is for presentational structure. If you want something bold, don't use an H1 element; write a CSS style to make the content bold. I always prefer external stylesheets with CSS styles applied via selectors. If you need to override a style, don't use "!important"; create a more specific selector and configure the style there. Learn CSS first, then use popular libraries like TailwindCSS.

HTML5 equips you to embed and manipulate multimedia elements seamlessly. It introduces new tags like <audio>, <video>, <source>, <track>, <picture>, <canvas>, and <svg>, simplifying the integration of audio, video, images, and animations. JavaScript and APIs like the Web Audio API, MediaStream API, and Canvas API enhance multimedia control. By harnessing HTML5's potential, you'll adeptly create engaging and interactive web pages that captivate and enthrall users, elevating their browsing experience. This skill empowers you to infuse life and dynamism into your online content, fostering user engagement and leaving a lasting impression.

To get hired with HTML5 skills, you need expertise in semantic HTML structure, understanding of HTML5 APIs (such as Canvas, Web Storage, and Geolocation), proficiency in working with multimedia elements (audio, video), knowledge of responsive web design principles, mastery of CSS for styling and layout, and the ability to handle basic JavaScript interactions for enhanced user experiences. It's also beneficial to be familiar with accessibility standards and SEO best practices.

What to Know: Familiarize yourself with media embedding tags such as <audio>, <video>, and <canvas>. Learn the basics of APIs like Web Audio API and Canvas API. Employability Factor: Important for creating interactive websites. Adds value to front-end and UX design roles.

Proficiency in creating and validating forms using HTML5 is the fourth pivotal skill in web development. HTML5 introduces elements like <form>, <input>, <label>, <output>, <datalist>, <progress>, and <meter>, enhancing user-friendliness and accessibility. It also features new input types and attributes such as email, url, number, date, range, color, and pattern, enabling formatting, pattern specification, placeholder insertion, validation, and autocompletion. This skill empowers you to efficiently and securely collect and process user data. By leveraging HTML5, you'll adeptly craft forms and inputs that streamline data interactions, fostering seamless user engagement while ensuring robust data handling.

Ability to use the patterns attribute of HTML <input> is an absolute must, it lets you validate the user input in a standard way. Structuring your forms in an Aria way is a must. Allowing all users use the form. Verifying this using tools like W3C validator and WebAIM Wave. Using libraries to sanitize the users input to prevent any attacks. Useful placeholder values, and error messages to inform the user what they did wrong or missed.

What to Know: Understand how to use and validate form elements and new input types like email, number, and date. Know how to make forms accessible. Employability Factor: Essential for any role involving user data collection, including front-end and back-end development.

This goes back to semantic HTML. It is critical that form elements tab naturally, are keyboard accessible and descriptive. Labels need to tie to the form element they describe. Groupings need to make sense, and a user needs to know what's going to happen next (like your 'submit' button).

HTML5 introduces groundbreaking features like the Application Cache, Web Storage, and IndexedDB, enabling data storage and retrieval on the client-side, even when offline or in patchy networks. These features seamlessly sync with user needs, ensuring continuous interactions. Employing JavaScript and APIs like the File API, Blob API, and Web Workers API, you'll adeptly manage and manipulate client-side data. This skill fuels the creation of web pages that seamlessly transition between online and offline modes, fostering uninterrupted user engagement and data retention. Embrace HTML5's potential to redefine the web's dynamic landscape, where experiences remain immersive, regardless of connectivity hurdles.

HTML5 introduces game-changing features like Application Cache, Web Storage, and IndexedDB for storing and retrieving data on the user's device, even offline. By using JavaScript and APIs such as File, Blob, and Web Workers, you can skillfully manage client-side data. This skill enables creating web pages that smoothly transition between online and offline modes, ensuring uninterrupted user engagement. HTML5 transforms the web experience, maintaining quality regardless of connectivity challenges.

What to Know: Learn the basics of Application Cache, Web Storage, and IndexedDB for offline capabilities. Understand how to use relevant APIs for data manipulation. Employability Factor: Valuable for creating robust, performance-optimized web applications. Relevant to both front-end and back-end roles.

Application cache, local storage, web manifests, IndexdDB and caching techniques/patterns will make your website fast. Users won't wait even on a poor network connection. The ability to work offline, and then sync back to the server later is invaluable. The developer tools in web browsers let you test out your offline capabilities, they are an invaluable asset to you.

One key aspect of this is utilizing the ‘loading’ attribute on ‘img’ tags. This attribute allows off-screen images to load only when the user scrolls near them, significantly enhancing the page load speed. This is especially important for users with slower internet connections, as it allows them to interact with the content without waiting for all images to load. Additionally, a faster loading website is favored by search engines, which can lead to better SEO rankings. Overall, the ‘loading’ attribute is a small addition with a big impact on user experience and website performance.

The lighter the code, the faster it loads. It pains me to see hundreds of line of extra code that shows up on mobile and not desktop or vice-versa, learn how to deal with both. Accessible content is kings these days. Make sure everything is keyboard accessible. Semantic HTML helps describe sections of your page, but also know some of the basic good habits of creating user-friendly web pages, which is where I see many people miss when inserting links and images (some of the top offenders). "Click Here" on a link doesn't mean anything to a person who has to use a screen reader.

On a general note, as a web developer interviewer, I think that the article contains much more than basic HTML5 skills one needs to get hired. To get hired one needs to prove the knowledge of structuring the html page, basic tags, their semantic properties and accessibility characteristics. No need to have a deep knowledge of canvases, caches and more sophisticated tags. Most of them one won't ever need, and will be able to learn when time comes. Knowledge of, e.g. PWA, Tailwind etc are nice to haves and not directly relate to the HTML5, and this should be clearly stated in the article, if added.

To get hired with HTML5 skills, a solid understanding of the HTML5 standard is crucial. This includes proficiency in semantic markup, new structural elements like `<header>`, `<nav>`, `<section>`, and `<article>`, as well as familiarity with HTML5 forms, audio and video elements, and the canvas element for graphics. Additionally, knowing how to use HTML5 for creating responsive and mobile-friendly web designs is highly valuable in today's job market. Stay up-to-date with HTML5 advancements to remain a competitive candidate.

Definitely learning the ins and outs of html can prove to be very helpful since there is many functionality that is being embedded into it that replaces existing 3rd party libraries. By doing this the developer can reduce the clutter in a project and improve maintainability in the long run.

Since web standards and technologies evolve, a willingness to stay updated with the latest changes is crucial. Additionally, employers often appreciate complementary skills such as a good eye for design, experience with various web development frameworks and libraries, backend development skills, and soft skills like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. When preparing for a role or an interview, it's helpful to research the specific requirements of the company or position in question, as different roles may emphasize different aspects of HTML5 and associated technologies.

I believe one needs to build structures with semantic tags, understand basic web accessibility, use advanced forms, handle multimedia elements, and optimize performance with HTML5 APIs.