PleaseHTML5 Please is back: restoring a web development classic
HTML5 Please is online again. If you wrote front end code in the early 2010s, you probably remember it: a single page where you could look up an HTML5 or CSS3 feature and get a straight answer on whether to use it, and how, with polyfills or fallbacks.
Where it came from
The reference launched in 2011 from the team behind HTML5 Boilerplate, Modernizr and CSS3 Please, including Divya Manian and Paul Irish. It paired the raw support data from Can I Use with something those tables could not give you: an opinion, formed by people shipping real sites, on whether a feature was worth the trouble.
Why bring it back
The domain had lapsed and the tool had gone dark. We rebuilt it faithfully from the open source project, which is still MIT licensed, so the guidance stays available. Every one of the feature entries now also has its own detailed page, and you can browse by CSS, HTML or JavaScript APIs.
What changed
Almost nothing in spirit, and a lot in the underlying web. Many features that once carried a caution now sit comfortably in the safe column, because modern browsers converged. Where a recommendation reads as dated, the Can I Use link on each page shows the current state. There is more background on the about page.
What is next
We are keeping the reference current and publishing new writing here on the blog. If you have a guide or a perspective on the modern web platform to share, guest contributions are welcome. Start exploring on the feature finder.