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Microsoft Updates HTML5 Support for Visual Studio

Microsoft today released its Web Standards Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1. The update works on both commercial versions of Visual Studio, as well as the free Visual Web Developer Express 2010 SP1. The download, hosted on the Visual Studio Gallery Web site, can be found here.

The first in a planned series of releases, the Web Standards Update features improved HTML5 support and adds support for CSS 3. Also added is JavaScript IntelliSense support for additional APIs. According to the site, Microsoft expects to release new updates about "every three months to keep Visual Studio updated with the changes made by W3C."

Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager Lead at Microsoft, described the update in detail in a blog post.

"We don't know what all will come in the next version of Visual Studio, or the next version of HTML5, but for those of you who are interested, we hope this 'living update' of Web Standards support for Visual Studio will help you out!" he wrote.

Hanselman also took a moment to rib developers concerned about the fate of Silverlight, after a pair of Windows 8 demos highlighting the HTML5 capabilities of the new OS failed to make mention of Silverlight.

"This is an update for ASP.NET and HTML5 editing people who want to use HTML5, new JavaScript features and CSS3," he wrote in a P.S. to his blog post. "I didn't mention Silverlight because it has nothing to do with Silverlight. I said once 'just because your favorite technology isn't mentioned in a keynote doesn't mean it's dead.' Assume that the same rule applies to a Blog Post."

Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/16/2011


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