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A lot of neat and exciting things are happening in the world of the web. With the advancement of both HTML 5 and CSS 3, the way we experience the web will soon be changing dramatically. Some argue that HTML 5 will mean the downfall of Flash. It is already being used on mobile devices to allow the viewing of videos and audio players. Despite these advancements, one major browser is a constant hold up. I'll let you guess which one that is!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Internet Explorer's lack of 'web standards', here is a graph of the different browsers' standing as far as preparing for HTML 5. This file was provided by Focus.com (click here to download the full graphic). You can see that Internet Explorer is SIGNIFICANTLY behind in regards to HTML 5.

And this doesn't stop at HTML 5. Most of these other browsers support such things as rounded corners, drop-shadows, text replacement, and other elements of CSS 3. But because of the lack of acceptance by the Microsoft giant, these elements are better used for prototyping the site and then creating time-consuming graphics to emulate these styles.

Designers may be used to creating these elements as graphics, but the efficiency of doing it in the stylesheets cannot be denied. 

HTML5Readiness.com has an interesting graph with browser readiness for a number of HTML5 and CSS3 elements. In Microsoft's favor, they are getting better with every new release of their web browser (IE9 is said to be CSS3 Compatible), however, one must wonder why the corporate giant is still significantly behind the rest as far as compatibility to new web standards. Based on this graph, you'll notice that despite the promises of the latest IE release, it is still on the outskirts of the compatibility circle.

The ugly truth about this is that still to this day, the majority of web users browse with a version of Internet Explorer. Also, many of these advancements in web design are not compatible with older browsers of any version. So all of this must be considered. As far as a client is concerned, they generally want their site to look the same across ALL browsers. So all the wonderful features becoming available must be put on a back pocket and saved for a personal site or a special use case.