Esri plans to support HTML5

Esri is actively working with HTML5 to exploit its new capabilities: geolocation, drag and drop, off-line storage, enhanced graphic capabilities with canvas and transitions, video display, web workers, etc. Esri is incorporating these capabilities into the ArcGIS API for JavaScript as they become supported by the different browsers and where they offer meaningful improvements to the developer or end-user experience.

For example, version 2.2 of ArcGIS API for JavaScript leverages HTML5 geolocation, allowing the web browser application to retrieve the current location of the user (works across most browsers). Use the keyword ‘geolocation’ to search through our developer samples to learn more about this. We are also making use of the HTML5 canvas tag to speed up the display of graphics. With the 2.3 release, we use canvas across all browsers that support this element (all major browsers support it except Internet Explorer 7 and 8). The results are spectacular: see ‘What is new in 2.6’ to learn more. As support for HTML5 in browsers expands, the ArcGIS API for JavaScript will grow in its use of HTML5 as appropriate.

Regardless of the specific HTML5 capabilities used by the API itself, any developer can today use HTML5 tags when building applications with the ArcGIS API for JavaScript. For example, you can use the video display capabilities of HTML5 to enhance the look and feel of info windows; leverage drag and drop capabilities to create rich user experiences; and use off-line storage to persist user preferences or map notes, center the map in the current geographic location reported by the web browser, etc. We have added a new help topic called ‘experimental’ to oursamples. This topic contains many examples that use HTML5 including how to add drag and drop capabilities to your apps, use local storage, etc.

Esri sees HTML5 as a key aspect of the road map for the ArcGIS API for JavaScript, enabling better user experiences, simplified development and better performing applications.