Great comment from John and much needed input. But why doesn’t he submit these concerns to the WHATWG or HTMLWG through the mailing lists? I don’t have much time for people who are all for complaining in blog articles and comments (forums, twitter… etc) but (appear) not to take it any further than that.

If you join or follow the WHATWG and Public-HTML mailing lists you’ll see there is already a lot of criticism and heated discussion amongst the “HTML 5 people”. John Allsopp has some very valid points to make but the only way they’ll be taken into consideration is if Ian Hickson sees them, which he has and he requested John email him or the mailing list with his concerns. I hope he does.

So far I have found Ian to be very approachable and takes time to consider everything he gets. I’ve also been impressed at the way he pops up almost anywhere there is an HTML 5 discussion to correct misconceptions or to take away good suggestions. But he isn’t the only route to having input on the spec, he is simply the most visible and active which I think makes this spec more accessible to ordinary folk than any before it.

I’m just another web developer and so far I’ve found that this isn’t some closed of spec being written by elites, if you have worthwhile input (such as John’s) then it is welcomed and discussed by those involved in developing the spec.

In my opinion the positive aspects of HTML 5 far outweigh the negatives, heck we have another two and a half years to get them sorted so input is vital.