2012年7月17日 星期二

[ Diablo 3 官方文章 ] 快速切換掉寶裝

Source: https://tw.battle.net/d3/zh/blog/1122124



快速切換掉寶裝
自從上市之後,身上要放一套魔寶尋獲套裝(MF裝/掉寶裝)的概念漸顯重要,而且要在擊倒敵人之前快速換裝。理念上來說我們對於這樣的運用沒有什麼疑慮,雖然玩家在擊殺敵人前增加魔寶尋獲率(Magic Find; MF)對我們來說不算破壞遊戲,不過,許多玩家表示他們並不喜歡從事這樣的行為,然而,這麼做的好處卻已經大到無法被他們忽略了。由於尋求解決方案的呼聲來自於各位玩家,我們想要邀請你來聊聊可能的解決方案。
值得提醒各位的是,如果我們減少了玩家在戰鬥中交換裝備的情況,我們會同時為玩家尋求其他增加MF方式來補償。
以下是我們目前考慮的方案,告訴我們哪一個對你來說最合理,或是其他的意見、想法以及理由:
選項 1: 設定魔寶尋獲率(MF)的上限值
我們可以將MF的上限值設在100%和200%之間,涅法雷姆之勇提供75%,所以你需要25%和125%之間的MF來達到這個上限,每位玩家可以找到方式來達到MF%的極限,然後停止。
優點: 創造一個努力達到「MF%上限」來升級裝備的遊戲,此可讓人們擁有足夠的裝備來達到上限值,以解決快速換裝的問題。想要快速換裝的玩家還是可以繼續這麼做,而覺得此舉很愚蠢但感覺被逼得不得不這麼做的玩家則可以試著達到這個新的上限值。
缺點: 得看上限值設在哪裡,有可能無法確實減少裝備交換的情形,不希望這麼做的玩家還是會覺得必須這樣做。此也會將很有價值的屬性給貶值,想要的屬性就表示想要的裝備,也因此這樣不利於多樣化的物品獵取。

選項 2: 緩慢地隨著時間調整魔寶尋獲率
當你穿上一件擁有魔寶尋獲率的物品,MF%的改變不會馬上生效,取而代之的是,你的魔寶尋獲率會慢慢的「堆」到目標魔寶尋獲率 -- 像是每秒鐘增加1%之類的。如果打開角色的「詳細數據」表,你可以看到「8%...9%...10%」慢慢改變,雖然理論上你可以在怪物死前切換MF裝來增加一點點額外的百分比,但這個可能不值得你這麼做。
優點: 數據表更新非常顯而易見,仍然允許玩家換上裝備而不會覺得太差。
缺點: 可能不會減輕那些還是覺得被迫要增加一點MF%的玩家的問題。得看這個增加率有多少,玩家雖然不想但還是有可能會在戰鬥最後20秒切換裝備。

選項 3: 使用過去五分鐘內的平均MF% 或是最低的MF%
我們可以每30秒鐘取樣一次你的MF%,然後創造一個移動平均數或是在過去數分鐘內在你的角色身上看到的最低MF%。
優點: 許多和方案2一樣的好處,但比較難一點。很棒的地方在於當你裝備升級的時候你還是可以換裝。
缺點: 很難傳遞訊息。我們必須在「詳細數據」裡面清楚描述這個,但是在普通遊戲中,玩家可能會不知道什麼是「移動平均」也不想要去看它。魔寶尋獲率已經是一個很難理解的數目了,所以修改魔寶尋獲率的影藏規則可能會感覺更糟。

選項 4: 切換裝備的3分鐘內你的MF%會暫時為零
當你換裝的時候,你的魔寶尋獲率將會失效3分鐘。
優點: 絕對有效勸阻裝備切換,玩家找到更好的裝備時仍然可以換裝。如果你殺了一組精英怪,得到升級裝備,3分鐘的期間可能剛好夠短,在你遇到下一組精英怪前重新啟動魔寶尋獲率。
缺點:  不熟悉這套系統的玩家,打開「詳細數據」然後看到魔寶尋獲率是0%的時候可能會不了解為什麼。我們可以透過為0%的MF上色和工具提示說明下一次生效的冷卻時間以及預期的魔寶尋獲率,來減少這樣的情況。

選項 5: 裝備切換和涅法雷姆之勇的交互影響
我們有和涅法雷姆之勇交互影響的全面解決方案,舉例來說,我們可以在你交換一個裝備的時候,移除一層涅法雷姆之勇。
優點: 阻止了只是為了最後一擊的裝備交換,仍然給予玩家想要這麼做的選擇。
缺點: 有些玩家可能會因為不小心而失去一層,我們可以放一個確認訊息對話框來解決因為意外而失去一層的問題,但是跳出遊戲中斷視窗很可能會導致角色死亡。它也會造成合作遊戲玩家不同步,一個人自己切換裝備然後失去個一兩層還可以,如果此發生在殺王之前,他們會想要再去清理兩組精英怪,但在合作模式下,其他夥伴可能會不想 -- 因而導致一些合作遊戲的社交情況緊張。最後,它將緊緊把兩個系統結合在一起,一般來說,兩個緊密結合的系統,長期看來並不如兩個鬆散搭配的系統來的運作良好。換句話說,由於這兩個系統都會受到影響,未來關於涅法雷姆系統或是魔寶尋獲率系統(或是關於這兩個系統)的更動會變得更難。
當我們自行在討論和測試這些選擇可能如何運作時,我們也想聽聽你的想法。我們主要是想要聽聽你喜歡哪一個方式,是否有你特別喜歡或是特別不喜歡的方式以及理由。給我們一些背景故事,告訴我們就個人而言這些變更將會如何影響你,這會是我們莫大的幫助。
我們將鎖定以下的討論區來集中所有的意見到相同的地方,請前往這裡來討論。

2012年7月15日 星期日

( 暗黑破壞神3 / Diablo 3 ) 歡樂谷(隱藏關)詳細圖文攻略

有玩過《暗黑破壞神 2》的玩家一定都「母牛關」不陌生,所以上市後的《暗黑破壞神 3》是否也有「母牛關」可以打寶刷裝呢?製作人並沒有直接否定這個問題,但是在今天網路上放出了一支像極惡搞的影片「彩虹小馬關」,連開關所需的材料也都提供出來,我們先來看看這部影片,再來研究。
影音名稱DIABLO 3 COW LEVEL (AND HOW TO GET TO IT) ******SPOILER ALERT*******

  影片中的玩家遇到了一支不死靈魂乳牛問他「You mean the Cow level」,而這支乳牛回說「No, there is cow level. now, moo-oh, uh, excuse me. Move along!」,結果玩家一進到傳說的母牛關馬上就被一群知名的美國卡通彩虹小馬圍攻,這真的不是母牛關,而是彩虹小馬關。
cow
二代的母牛王已成古了,現在已 NPC 的方式出場

  而啟動這個「彩虹小馬關」需要怎樣的條件呢?需要把一把名為「牧牛杖」的道具給這個母牛 NPC ,和他對完話後就從地底冒出來的彩虹深淵進入即可。但是啟動「彩虹小馬關」麻煩的是製作「牧牛杖」的道具,以下是道具清單。

彩虹小馬關所需條件

牧牛杖設計圖
●牧牛杖
●惡夢牧牛杖
●地獄牧牛杖
●煉獄牧牛杖

  牧牛杖的設計圖要到第四章找背判者「伊卒爾 」,他的地點在銀光尖塔上的天翼橋。snap1342
設計圖只有伊卒爾會掉

牧牛杖製作材料
●維特的牛鈴(Wirt's  Bell)第二章商人有賣,售價 10 萬金。
●黑蘑菇(Black Mushroom)在大教堂一層的方間中有較小的機率出現。
●液態彩虹(Liquid Rainbow)第二章綠洲區域神秘洞穴( Mysterious Cave)的隨機事件,當玩家救下老人時,他會打開神秘寶箱,裡面會有液態彩虹。
●胡謅寶石(Gibbering Gemstone)在第三章的冰霜洞穴中由「兇邪霜之獵戶 (Chiltara)」 掉落,掉落方式隨機,玩家可以退出洞穴再進入,兇邪霜之獵戶也是隨機出現的。
●李奧瑞克的脛骨(Leoric’s Shinbone)在李奧瑞克莊園的壁爐處有較小的機率出現。

各難度牧牛杖製作費用
  學會了配方後,用以上道具到鐵所鋪合成「牧牛杖」即可,而一開始在普通打到的母牛杖只能在普通關卡開啟,到了惡夢所需要的就是打一本惡夢的「惡夢牧牛杖」設計圖,惡夢以上的牧牛杖合成所需要的材料都要以前一個難度的牧牛杖做為升級材料。所以玩家想要打造一把「煉獄牧牛杖」,光是給鐵匠的合成費就要 1750000 萬遊戲幣。
圖示
難度
名稱
價格
所需材料
普通
●牧牛杖
50000
惡夢
●惡夢牧牛杖
200000
地獄
●地獄牧牛杖
500000
煉獄
●煉獄牧牛杖
1000000

2158301
三代的隱藏關卡還真不是窮人開得起的

虹光
在隱藏關卡還有機會打到這把傳說的武器「虹光

2012年7月11日 星期三

[轉帖] Diablo 3 手動更新

玩家可透過全球暢玩功能,在《暗黑破壞神III》各個區域創建角色、建置好友清單、收集物品、使用金幣拍賣場。只要在登入畫面點選「設定」按鈕,選擇「帳號」標籤,然後從下拉式選單中選擇欲切換的伺服器區域,即可進入其他區域。

請注意在使用全球暢玩功能時,有以下限制:

在更新之後使用全球暢玩
《暗黑破壞神III》客戶端更新和你最初安裝的版本相連,而與玩家所選的伺服器無關,也就是說,若你安裝台灣購買的《暗黑破壞神III》繁體中文版,則你的客戶端將與亞洲伺服器更新連結。因此,在美洲伺服器更新後你可能會在短期內無法使用全球暢玩功能登入美服,這是因為不同伺服器更新的時間不同。一般來說,美洲伺服器的週期性維護期間為台灣時間週二晚間,亞洲伺服器的週期性維護期間為週四凌晨。

欲手動更新美洲伺服器更新內容,請至此下載手動更新檔:
http://us.media.battle.net.edgesuite.net/downloads/d3-installers/0d0f9268-6e92-4aa1-8556-8724e79f4833/Diablo-III-Setup-enUS.exe

台灣玩家使用典藏版光碟安裝的客戶端是enUS安裝程式,其將與美洲伺服器更新連結,這些客戶端將隨著美洲伺服器更新而更新,這些玩家在亞洲伺服器更新前將無法登入亞服。

全球暢玩以及現金拍賣場
儘管玩家可以在所有全球暢玩地區(美洲、歐洲、亞洲)使用金幣拍賣場,現金拍賣場僅支援你的「所屬」地區。意思是在你的所屬地區之外的角色將無法在現金拍賣場購買或出售物品。舉例來說,如果你的所屬地區是「美洲」,你在歐洲或亞洲的角色將無法使用現金拍賣場。

更多關於《暗黑破壞神III》全球暢玩的資訊,請看
常見問題。


Source: https://tw.battle.net/d3/zh/forum/topic/697902876

2012年7月10日 星期二

[轉貼][教學] Windows 2003的操作設定


因為很常玩 Windows 2003 Server 版,所以找一些教學,來看看,把一些比較不好的功能拿掉,文章如下了
轉貼自: http://forum.shareget.com/t72891/
==========================================================
本文的目的是將Windows Server 2003改造成一般使用者也能輕鬆使用的XP介面。
先聲明,Windows Server 2003目前對軟體及驅動程式的支援性是一個很大
的問題。所以我不建議一般的使用者安裝Win2003,費了一番功夫只換來一
個相容性差的XP,投資報酬率似乎有點低。
(目前手邊的軟體已知有Dr.eye 2002跟PartitionMagic v8.0無法使用)

不過如果是喜歡嘗鮮的使用者,那麼不妨照著文章操作看看,挺有意思的。
OS的安裝步驟在此就省略了,安裝的步驟和XP差不多,安裝介面也很相似
安裝完畢後,讓我們開始下列的步驟:
(1)關掉”管理您的伺服器”視窗
開機進入Server 2003之後,你會看到<管理您的伺服器>的視窗,
假如你不用想每次開機都會看到此視窗,記得將左下角<登入時不顯示這個畫面 >打勾
之後你能利用” 控制台 -> 系統管理工具 -> ” 管理您的伺服器 ” 來啟動
(2)創造自己的帳號
如XP那樣的歡迎視窗,在Server 2003已不復見,所以你一定正在煩惱怎樣才能
擺脫Administrator這個管理者帳號,別煩惱!照著下面一步一步做即可:
在” 開始 -> 執行 “, 鍵入< rundll32 netplwiz.dll,UsersRunDll > 使用者帳戶出現了。
或者打開記事本,把下列文字複製後存檔,直接點擊登錄。
(存檔類型選” 所有檔案 ” 檔名存為xxx.reg,xxx隨意輸入,reg為副檔名),
CODE:——————————————————————————–
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}]
@="User Accounts"
"InfoTip"="Starts The Windows 2000 style User Accounts dialog"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\\\System32\\\\netplwiz.dll,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open\command]
@="Control Userpasswords2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}]
@="Add Userpasswords to Control Panel"
——————————————————————————–
登錄後,在控制台會出現 <使用者帳戶> 接著進去建立自己的帳號吧。
(3)取消剛進入Server 2003時的 CTRL+ALT+DEL 待機視窗
到” 控制台 -> 系統管理工具 -> 本機安全性原則 “
你會看到視窗左欄的” 安全性設定 -> 本機原則 -> 安全性選項 “
將視窗右欄的” 互動式登入:不要求按CTRL+ALT+DEL鍵 “改成” 已啟用 “
(4)取消IE的增強式安全性設定
想上網時,到各個網站都會被阻擋,導致無法上網,要怎樣取消這煩人的功能呢?
到” 控制台 -> 新增或移除程式 “選取” 新增/移除Windows元件 “
選擇” Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration ->詳細資料”
把<適用於系統管理員群組>跟<適用於所有其他使用者群組>兩個選項取消吧
(5)安裝 Java Virtual Machine (JAVA虛擬機器)
WIN SERVER 2003不內建JVM,故需自行下載安裝,兩者擇一即可。
MS Java VM 下載
Sun’s Java VM 下載
(6)取消關機事件追蹤器
基於Server 2003萬事皆小心的考量,連關機都必須填寫關機的理由,以便日後追蹤
但對大部分的人來說,這很不方便,讓我們關掉他吧。
” 開始 -> 執行 , 鍵入 gpedit.msc “,出現群組原則物件編輯器
在視窗左欄進入” 電腦設定 -> 系統管理範本 -> 系統 “
將視窗右欄的” 顯示關機事件追蹤器 “改成” 已停用 “
(7)WIN 2003不能玩遊戲?
一般Server是不會用來玩遊戲的,要用Server 2003玩遊戲,先做一些調整吧!
1.圖形硬體加速
在桌面按右鍵選 ” 內容 -> 疑難排解 “將” 硬體加速 “調至最大
2.啟用DirectX
” 開始 -> 執行,鍵入 dxdiag ” 啟動DirectX診斷工具
到” 顯示 “啟用 DirectDraw 加速, Direct3D 加速, AGP 材質加速
3.將 DirectX 版本昇級至 DirectX 9.0a
下載
(開啟音效
Server 2003的音效,預設值是停用,讓我們來啟動它:
1.” 開始 -> 執行,鍵入 Services.msc “出現” 服務 “的視窗,點選視窗右欄的” Windows Audio “
將啟動類型改成” 自動 “,再按” 套用 “,將服務狀態改成” 啟動 “
2.DirectX裡,也有設定音效的地方:
” 開始 -> 執行,鍵入 dxdiag ” 啟動DirectX診斷工具
到” 音效 “將 <硬體音效加速等級> 調至” 完全加速 “
(9)開啟WIN XP的佈景主題
” 開始 -> 執行,鍵入 Services.msc “出現” 服務 “的視窗,點選視窗右欄的” Themes “
將啟動類型改成” 自動 “,再按” 套用 “,將將服務狀態改成” 啟動 “

Building Apps with HTML5: What You Need to Know


HTML5 is here, and the Web will never be the same.
You’ve no doubt heard that before, or something like it. I’d guess that when you did, you got excited, rolled your eyes, or mouthed the word “why?” and furrowed your brow a bit. Perhaps your reaction was a mix of all three.
I wouldn’t blame you for any of these. HTML5 is exciting, and it does have the potential to change the Web as we know it, but it also gets blown out of proportion. What’s more, its true meaning can be elusive. I’ve experienced each of those reactions myself while building applications with HTML5. It’s a broad topic, so it’s difficult to wrap your head around HTML5, much less know where to begin with this exciting new set of technologies.
This is the first article in a series for MSDN Magazine, and the goal is to give you a complete picture of why the first sentence in this article is true—and important. Over the next several months, I want to help you understand what HTML5 means to you—both as a Web developer and as a developer who uses Microsoft tools and technologies. I hope to simplify some of the complexity around HTML5 for you, and demystify much of the hype. I’ll also introduce some HTML5 features that are available today, as well as some exciting technologies that, though a bit further out, are worth paying attention to. Finally, I’ll leave you with some tips that will help you adopt HTML5 technologies now, while you continue to 
provide great experiences to users with older browsers.
If you’re excited about HTML5, I want to help you turn that excitement into ideas you can put into practice immediately. If you’re skeptical, I want to help you understand just why HTML5 is important. And if you’re just confused about what HTML5 even means, fear not: that’s our first stop in this series.

What Is HTML5?

You might have discovered by now that HTML5 means different things to different people. To some, it just means new tags like <header> and <footer> and a handful of new attributes available in markup. To others, it means everything that’s new and interesting on the Web, including technologies implemented in just a single browser or other specifications not officially part of HTML5. To be sure, understanding the real meaning of HTML5 is often the first roadblock many of us face.
And, honestly, there’s some justification for the number of varying definitions. HTML5 is huge! Formally defined by an international standards body known as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), HTML5 consists of more than 100 specifications that relate to the next generation of Web technologies. By putting all 100-plus of these specifications under the moniker HTML5, you could argue that the W3C oversimplified things. And while it’s hard to take something as broad as HTML5 and define it in an unambiguous way, I believe that the W3C was trying to address the scope of what’s changing on the Web by introducing HTML5 as a unifying concept for that change.
In fact, HTML5 is an umbrella term describing a set of HTML, CSS and JavaScript specifications designed to enable developers to build the next generation of Web sites and applications. What’s notable in that definition is its three parts: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They define how developers use improved markup, richer style capabilities and new JavaScript APIs to make the most of new Web development features. Simply put, HTML5 = HTML + CSS + JavaScript.
And that’s it. HTML5 is about changes to HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Rather than worrying about all 100-plus specifications, those three terms describe the breadth and scope of HTML5. Still think that’s a bit simplistic? It may be, but as you’ll soon see, a comprehensive definition of HTML5 doesn’t matter as much as the technologies you choose as worthy of your time and effort to adopt.
With a definition in hand, let’s spend a few moments talking about where Microsoft fits into the HTML5 space.

HTML5 and Internet Explorer

As I mentioned, the set of specifications that make up HTML5 are stewarded by the W3C. The W3C consists of staff, organizations and individuals invested in helping to drive and define the future of the Web. The WC3 is a consensus-based organization, and typically operates by forming committees (called working groups) to divide up chunks of work on related specifications. Specifications can be proposed by any member, and all specifications owned by the W3C—more specifications than those that fall under the HTML5 umbrella—move through a five-stage process from first draft to official recommendation.
Microsoft is a member of the W3C and plays a very active role in the specification process for many HTML5 standards and working groups. Just like all of the major browser vendors, Microsoft is heavily invested in HTML5 and is working with the W3C and other vendors to ensure that developers can count on HTML5 technologies being reliably implemented in an interoperable way on all major browsers.
In the context of Microsoft the browser vendor, the approach is fourfold:
  1. Deliver the best site-ready HTML5 today via Internet Explorer 9.
  2. Expose upcoming features to developers via Internet Explorer Platform Previews.
  3. Invest in interoperability through tests submitted to the W3C.
  4. Prototype unstable standards via HTML5 labs.
“Site-Ready HTML5” is the term Microsoft uses to describe HTML5 technologies that you can use today because they have broad support across all major browsers. Technologies like the new HTML tags, Canvas, Scalable Vector Graphics, Audio and Video, Geolocation, Web Storage and many new CSS3 modules all fall into this space, and they’re implemented in Internet Explorer 9, as well as the other mainstream browsers. We’ll spend a fair amount of time in this series discussing these technologies, as well as how you can adopt them today.
Beyond what’s available at present, Microsoft is using public Platform Previews to inform developers of what’s coming in the next version of the browser, as well as to gather feedback. For Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft released Platform Previews every six to eight weeks, each time announcing new HTML5 enhancements, features and performance improvements for developers to try out and evaluate. Internet Explorer 9 was released in March and as of early July, Microsoft has released two Platform Previews for Internet Explorer 10, signaling that Microsoft is continuing a regular release cadence for Internet Explorer previews. As a developer, you’ll want to take advantage of the latest previews to learn, test and influence how the browsers evolve. You can download the latest Internet Explorer Platform Preview atIETestDrive.com.
To ensure that HTML5 works consistently across all browsers, Microsoft has invested heavily in interoperability, creating and submitting the single largest suite of test cases related to HTML5 to the W3C. For the first time, this suite of test cases will be used by the W3C as the authoritative source of HTML5 “readiness” in each browser. The end result for you and me as developers is that we can adopt and implement HTML5 technologies once, and trust that they’ll work consistently across all browsers. For more information on Microsoft’s work around interoperability, go to bit.ly/dxB12S.
While some HTML5 technologies already exist in Internet Explorer 9, and others are being announced for Internet Explorer 10 via Internet Explorer Platform Previews, some popular and newsworthy specifications need a bit more work by the W3C and the browser vendors before they’ll be ready to implement in our applications. One such example is Web Sockets, an exciting specification that lets developers open bidirectional communication channels with back-end servers, thus enabling a level of “real-time” connectivity not previously available in Web applications. As a developer, you can no doubt imagine countless uses for Web Sockets in the applications you’re building right now. But the Web Sockets specification is still changing at a rapid pace, with key aspects still in flux and being discussed within the W3C. Given that situation, it would be difficult to provide this feature consistently and reliably across all browsers today.
For unstable or evolving specifications like Web Sockets (which we’ll cover in depth in a future article), Microsoft created HTML5 Labs, a site for developers to experiment with draft implementations of these technologies. The site provides prototypes you can download and try locally, as well as hosted demos for some specs. The goal is to give you a place to try these specs out for yourself, and for you to give both Microsoft and the W3C feedback on these specs as they stabilize and near implementation in browsers. For more information on HTML5 Labs, go to html5labs.com.

HTML5 and Microsoft Developer Tools

Beyond Microsoft’s involvement with the W3C and the HTML5 technologies supported in the browser, there’s another dimension to Microsoft’s approach to HTML5 that’s important for developers: its approach to HTML5 tooling.
In early 2011, Microsoft updated two of its development tools with service packs: Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Web 4. The service packs for both of these tools provided an HTML5 document type for validation, as well as IntelliSense for new HTML5 tags and attributes. If you’re using Visual Studio 2010 SP1, you can enable the HTML5 Schema by clicking Tools | Options | Text Editor | HTML | Validation, and then selecting the HTML5 option in the Target drop-down list, as shown in Figure 1. You can also set HTML5 as the default schema from the HTML Source Editing Toolbar in any HTML file, as shown in Figure 2.
Enabling the HTML5 Schema via the Options Dialog
Figure 1 Enabling the HTML5 Schema via the Options Dialog
Setting the HTML5 Schema on the HTML Source Editing Toolbar
Figure 2 Setting the HTML5 Schema on the HTML Source Editing Toolbar
Once your default schema is set, you’ll gain IntelliSense support in Visual Studio for the 28 new semantic tags in HTML, as well as new tag-specific and global attributes, as show in Figure 3.
HTML5 IntelliSense in Visual Studio 2010 SP1
Figure 3 HTML5 IntelliSense in Visual Studio 2010 SP1
Microsoft further updated its HTML5 support with its release of the Web Standards Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1 in June 2011. This extension, which works with all editions of Visual Studio 2010, adds further HTML5 IntelliSense and validation to Visual Studio, includes JavaScript IntelliSense for new browser capabilities like Geolocation and DOM Storage, and provides comprehensive CSS3 IntelliSense and validation. You can download this extension, which will be regularly updated to provide enhanced tooling for HTML5 development, from bit.ly/m7OB13.
For Expression Web 4 SP1, setting the HTML5 schema under Tools | Page Options offers the same IntelliSense, and the tool also provides CSS3 IntelliSense for several draft CSS3 modules like border-radius, box-shadow, transform and the like.
If you’re using WebMatrix (see web.ms/WebMatrix), you may have noticed that all new .html, .cshtml or .vbhtml documents you create contain default markup similar to what’s shown in Figure 4. As I’ll discuss in the next article in this series, this is a basic, valid HTML5 document. Most notably, the doctype and meta charset tags have lost a lot of cruft. Using this simple doctype triggers HTML5 mode across all modern browsers, and WebMatrix makes it easier for you by providing an HTML5 document by default.
Figure 4 A Default HTML Document in WebMatrix
  1. <!DOCTYPE html>
  2. <html lang="en">
  3.   <head>
  4.     <meta charset="utf-8" />
  5.     <title></title>
  6.   </head>
  7.   <body></body>
  8. </html>
If that’s not enough new HTML5 tooling for you—all since January 2011, by the way—ASP.NET MVC recently got in on the fun with the ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools Update announced at MIX11 in April. Along with a number of other great new tooling features, the ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools Update provides the option to use the HTML5 doctype for new projects—and ships Modernizr 1.7 in the Scripts folder of new applications. Modernizr is a JavaScript library that greatly eases HTML5 development; I’ll discuss it in depth in a future article.
The takeaway here is that even though HTML5 is just emerging in our browsers, official tool support is quickly being added, and Microsoft is even adding support for libraries (like Modernizr) from the community. You can target HTML5 with some help from Microsoft tools today, and expect that that HTML5 support will continue to grow and improve over time.

‘Adopting’ HTML5 in Your Applications

By now, you should realize that HTML5 isn’t a single entity that you can adopt or migrate to in one fell swoop. Adopting HTML5, rather than being a wholesale choice, is about making a technology-by-technology evaluation and determining which technologies are right for your application. For each HTML5 technology you evaluate, look at (at least) the following factors when deciding whether that technology is ready for you to adopt:
  1. How widely implemented across all major browsers is the technology?
  2. How would you adopt this technology and “polyfill” support for browsers that don’t support a given feature?
The first factor is the most important, and when combined with an understanding of the browsers commonly used by visitors to your site, should give you a clear picture of which subset of the 100-plus specifications is worth evaluating further. That subset should consist of a set of stable specifications you can reliably adopt today for your users.
However, even with that stable set of HTML5 technologies, you shouldn’t ignore your users who haven’t moved to a newer browser. If you’re heavily involved in the day-to-day development for your site, you no doubt have some rough idea of the percentages of users visiting your site with a given browser. For most of us, it would be easy to look at the percentage of users visiting with an older browser and come to the conclusion that adopting any HTML5 technologies would negatively impact those users. Luckily there’s “polyfilling” to save us from waiting until some foggy date in the future to adopt HTML5.
Paul Irish (a developer on the jQuery and Modernizr projects) defines a polyfill as “… a shim that mimics a future API, providing fallback functionality to older browsers.” A polyfill is like spackle for your Web sites; it’s a way to determine if a given HTML5 feature is available to the user currently browsing your site, and to provide either a shim that “fills in” that support or a course of graceful degradation that enables your site to still function fully.
The most popular library associated with polyfilling is Modernizr, the JavaScript library I mentioned earlier. Modernizr provides some basic polyfills for semantic markup, feature detection for major HTML5 technologies and support for conditional CSS based on supported features. As noted, Modernizr will be the subject of an upcoming article; it will also feature prominently (along with many other polyfilling libraries) throughout this series. To learn more, download Modernizr at modernizr.com
When it comes to choosing which technologies to adopt, your final list may be a combination of widely supported specifications and other specifications for which you’ll have to polyfill support for certain browsers. Only you will know the exact makeup of that list based on your current needs and context.
In the coming months, I’ll discuss several notable specifications, from Geolocation and Forms and Canvas, to Web Workers, Web Sockets and IndexedDB. Some of these are widely supported and “site-ready,” and some, like Web Sockets, are too groundbreaking to ignore, regardless of where they stand today. With each specification, I’ll discuss current and known future support, some basics about how you can implement the specification’s features on your sites, and how to polyfill support for browsers that don’t support a given feature.
If you want to dig more into HTML5 today, I suggest you pick up a couple of books on the subject. In particular, I recommend “Introducing HTML5” (New Riders, 2010) by Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp and “HTML5 Up and Running” (O’Reilly Media, 2010) by Mark Pilgrim. Also, be sure to visit W3C.org for up-to-date information on all specifications, as well as BeautyoftheWeb.com and IETestDrive.com to download Internet Explorer 9 and the Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview, respectively, and learn more about the great HTML5 experiences Microsoft is delivering through the browser.
Above all else, start adopting HTML5 today. The Web won’t ever be the same, really, and you can be part of the catalyst by building the next great Web applications using HTML5.