A majority of current customers cannot take advantage of new HTML5 and CSS3 web sites. Businesses want to deliver a rich online experience to users with the latest technologies. But care must be taken not to negatively impact the experience of core customers who cannot yet benefit from these new technologies.

Presently, support for HTML5 varies widely among browsers. A suggestion, for now, is to focus HTML5 and CSS3 development on mobile applications. More smartphones, being newer devices, use modern browsers that support HTML5 and CSS3. Using HTML5 and CSS3, mobile web sites can deliver faster and richer experiences by drawing on resources on a user’s smartphone, like their address book, same as mobile apps developed for specific phones like the iPhone or Android do.

Using HTML5 and CSS3 a retailer could access a database of information about a customer’s preferences and shopping history. Instead of storing that information in a cookie huge reams of data can be stored in a database on the client side, allowing a customer to quickly bring up the items they bought previously and reorder them, or select a stored shipping address during checkout.

Even though HTML5 and CSS3 are not ready for use on most live business web sites, businesses would be well served by starting to develop HTML5 and CSS3 mobile applications. This will help developers get ready for the day when redesigning the business web site to use HTML5 and CSS3 arrives. Code written for mobile phones must be very compact and highly optimized. Writing HTML5 and CSS3 code now helps developers write more efficient code and prepares them to meet your future needs.

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