HTML5 Doctor, a collaboration among Rich Clark, Bruce Lawson, Jack Osborne, Mike Robinson, Remy Sharp, Tom Leadbetter and Oli Studholme, has announced that it is to mirror Mark Pilgrim's Dive into HTML5 and update it, using GitHub for contributions.
Studholme spoke to .net about the site's plans. He told us that most of those at HTML5 Doctor have written books on HTML5, and know how tough doing so can be with rapidly changing browser support and issues relating to politics and history. "Mark Pilgrim's book was the first in-depth guide to HTML5 in English, and is both informative and readable," he said, adding: "Almost unbelievably, in addition to the printed O'Reilly book 'HTML5: Up and Running', Mark was also able to publish the book on the web, for free, under a Creative Commons licence."
Pilgrim recently pulled his entire online presence for reasons unknown, sparking concern for his well-being and also a scramble to ensure his work wasn't lost. Studholme told us the diveintohtml5.org website was one HTML5 Doctor extensively linked to, and so, with the 'own your data' meme in focus, it decided to join others in preserving and hosting a copy of Mark's work, something that the Creative Commons licence makes possible.
"We'd also like to collectively update and improve the book, together with others, such as Jonathan Neal, who are hosting a copy, and with whoever wants to help," added Studholme. "This is something of an experiment in collaborative publishing, using GitHub to coordinate and share changes, and we're excited to see what comes out of it. Thank you, Mark Pilgrim."
Visit the HTML5 Doctor Github page to get involved.
