If you are a web designer/developer who burned their copy of Frontpage 98, delighted in replacing an awful Flash site with a standards-based design and have watched as HTML, CSS, and Javascript combine to form the best Three's Company ever made then your world is about to get rocked.

The very language we use day in and day out is being branded as the solution for the future—the smart choice for companies to reach their intended audiences. So much so that you have two giants of the web/publishing/design industry going toe-to-toe in a very public debate over whose vision and platform will dominate.

I could be wrong, but I don't ever recall a global icon being quoted as saying the future is HTML. Nor do I ever recall a CEO saying they were betting their company on HTML (Okay, maybe there's a quote from some random issue of GOPHER magazine during the late 80's).

There should be celebrating in the streets, dancing on the ceiling, Ewoks, and the firing pistolas in the air. For years we've had to preach and defend the gospel of web standards to the mouth-breathing masses who have been drawn to twinkle lights and really bad house background tracks. No more will we have to spend precious time debating the merits of presentation layers being divorced from markup, usability, and every day common sense to a communications major who would really rather be producing ads for television.

Steve Jobs' flag planting doesn't mean an instant win for any of us. But with a guy like that in your corner, how can HTML not be the sought after method for publishing content via hypertext? We still have an uphill battle before us but HTML5 and the growing support from outside our vocation are strong allies. It's simple, elegant, and the first spec to make the most sense. I know this to be true after taking a few hours to read through an advance copy of Jeremy's book on the subject.

Back in my day, books on HTML came in the form of "bibles" and they weighed as much as a NYC telephone directory from 1978. I don't recall if the writers were more verbose than necessary, or it just took that many more pages to document how frames and tables worked, but I love that in eighty-seven pages HTML5 for Web Designers provides a very robust and complete guide for this new version of our foundation.

If you earn your living in any way related to the web then I strongly suggest coughing up a Jackson and waking up in a HTML dominated world—what many would call their Happy Place. As an added extra bonus, Keith's book is also a great way to learn all the right talking points for schmoozing a Cougar into buying you a round of mojitos.

UPDATE: This article has been translated into Belorussian by Patricia Clausnitzer