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The rapid adoption and killer buzz on iPad has put HTML5 in the spotlight. But what is it and who’s using it?

A few months ago, we started sharing our thoughts on HTML5, aka Steve Job’s answer to Flash (See Apple v. Adobe: Our Thoughts).

This Gizmodo article can be quite helpful to fully get your head around what HTML5 is and what to expect (or not to expect). In short, the article outlines the key areas where HTML5 spec tags and tools will allow for a richer web experience, in particular by way of tags like <VIDEO>.

<VIDEO> is a great example of the promise and excitement around HTML5 — most video online is currently viewed via plug-ins (like Flash players), but HTML5 will allow for native video viewing right from the browser without any plug-ins required.

Sounds great, right? Who wouldn’t be all for that type of functionality? Apparently lots of people are, since a new survey reprinted by TechCrunch shows that up to half of all media sites plan to support HTML5 video within the next year. The issue is that while Apple has started the marketing machine to bang the drum for HTML5, it will only work if it’s supported by developers and browser makers.

You see, part of the job of an HTML spec is to codify what’s already being done by developers and browser makers. The W3C, the mighty keeper of web protocol, can publish as many standards as they want, but in order for any to actually function, browsers have to support them.

Take the <VIDEO> tag I mentioned earlier as an example. The Gizmodo article linked above notes that “Safari and Chrome do support it, both the HTML code and the native rendering of a couple of associated video formats. Firefox supports the tag, but doesn’t support decoding of the key video format currently used by YouTube and Vimeo. Internet Explorer doesn’t support it at all without a plugin, and isn’t the whole point of HTML5 to get rid of plugins?”

Confusion in standards and execution completely hamstrings adoption.

In the same TechCrunch survey recap on HTML5, it was quite telling that 32% of “respondents said that the lack of a single HTML5-compatible video codec is holding them back from moving to HTML5.”

So what to make of HTML5? It’s not something that will swoop in dramatically and wipe out the tools and functions we all currently use. It will evolve slowly, with web technologies gradually supplanting many tools we use now.

Heck, when I started Bean Creative back in 1997, the defacto were animated 3 frame .gifs. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy to continue on the wild and ever-changing ride that is the web.