Since I joined Microsoft, part of what I’m doing is promoting Web standards. It’s even more important now in my role as you can use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build Windows 8 applications. I did many events as workshops or hackathons, and even if there are many people who know the latest, and the greatest in term of HTML5 (when I’m talking about HTML5, I’m usually saying HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript [EcmaScript 5]), there are still a lot of people that just start with these new technologies or some of those new features.
Many of these people told me that they would like to learn the new functionalities of these technologies, and I thought that a challenge series would be a good way to help, and motivate them. I’m not sure yet about the exact form it will take, but I was thinking about maybe a new HTML5 challenge every other week (strictly HTML5, not related to any platforms, but of course you’ll be able to use these new knowledges to build Web pages, mobile apps using PhoneGap, Windows 8 applications, boot to Gecko [Firefox OS], BlackBerry applications…). I would post a challenge, and you’ll have two weeks to make it. After this, I’ll post the solution I made, and I’ll post the next challenge. Those challenges would not be too complex or time consuming to build as you won’t have to build a full website, but more in the range of knowing specific part of the standard kind of thing. A good example would be to create a little Web chat application using Web sockets, or to modify a picture using the canvas element. Two weeks would be enough for you to learn the specific element or feature, to make the code, and for me, to think about a new challenge, and create the solution. It could also be a good way for more experimented people to play with features they don’t use too often, or just to confirm their knowledges.
Would it be something useful for you? Do you think it would be a good way to help you learn the technology? If it’s the case, please leave a comment in the comment section of this post, and I’ll contact you when I’ll start the challenge. Also, since I’m going to invest personal time on this, I would appreciate that you share the idea with friends who would be susceptible to like it, as more people will have an interest in this little HTML5 challenges idea, the more chance I’ll take this idea, and make it a reality!
