Since its introduction in 2008, HTML5 has been heralded as the future of the Web. No longer would we be held back by individual plugins like Flash. The Web would be a free and open place with the many APIs provided by HTML5 leading the way. Where did the Web revolution start and where is it going? Let this lovely infographic from Wix lead the way.

HTML5’s humble origins began in 2004 with the creation of “WHAT.” The organization gathered members from leading tech companies like Apple, Mozilla and Opera to develop what would become HTML5. Two years later in October 2006, the World Wide Web Consortium offered their expertise to further develop HTML5.

The magic year was 2008 when Ian Hickson published the first draft of HTML5. It was pretty barebones at launch, but the best was yet to come. The best was only going to come with major adoption from the big players in the browser market with Mozilla leading the way by being the first to implement HTML5 capability into Firefox 3.

What really kicked off the development of HTML5, however, was one Steve Jobs. He famously rejected Adobe’s Flash in an open letter back in 2010 by saying that it would not be allowed on any of Apple’s iOS devices. Adobe themselves would follow suit two years later by halting development of Flash for Android devices.

Google made great strides at the end of 2010 by opening the Chrome Web Store in HTML5. Other companies like Pandora also began to experiment by switching over their applications to HTML5 to rave reviews. LinkedIn is the latest to join the HTML5 party by releasing a 95 percent HTML5 native iPad app.

So where do we go from here? Research has indicated that there will be over 1 billion HTML5-enabled smartphones in people’s hands by the beginning of 2013. Couple that with the fact that people are increasingly relying on smartphones for Web browsing and you have the HTML5 revolution kicking off in full swing.

We don’t know what the future holds, but HTML5 is sure to be a part of it. The relentless efforts of companies like Mozilla and Google are making sure that the Web is free and open for all to use.

by Wix. Browse more data visualizations.