The World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has unveiled a new logo for HTML5 — and along with it, a new way of framing the conversation about newer web development technologies.

The topic of HTML5 has been one of great debate and no small amount of confusion over the past year or so. With the ardent support of companies such as Google and a great deal of enthusiasm from developers in all areas of work, HTML5 has taken its place in popular conversation as the magic-bullet antidote for everything that's wrong with web development (we're looking at you, Flash).

On the logo's new site, we read, "It stands strong and true, resilient and universal as the markup you write. It shines as bright and as bold as the forward-thinking, dedicated web developers you are. It's the standard's standard, a pennant for progress. And it certainly doesn't use tables for layout."

The logo was designed by boutique agency Ocupop, a firm that focuses on branding, identity and web design, among other facets of marketing and design work.

Ocupop logo designer Michael Nieling said in a statement, "The term HTML5 has taken on a life of its own; there has been significant confusion and debate both within the developer community and in the public at large as to what exactly HTML5 is when the term is used outside of simply referring to the spec itself... The standard needs a standard. That is, HTML5 needs a consistent, standardized visual vocabulary to serve as a framework for conversations, presentations, and explanations."

The HTML5 badge comes in a keystone shape that symbolizes "how HTML5 stands at the center of this current technology movement," as Neiling put it. The shape is also reminiscent of a coat of arms, a sort of "badge of honor we felt captured the spirit and substance of the open web platform and the community surrounding it."

The logo is meant to be taken and used by all members of the web developer/designer community; in fact, on the logo's site, you can customize your own badge according to the types of technology you use with eight classes that range from semantics to styling.

The site also offers free stickers (just send in a self-addressed, stamped envelope) and $22.50 T-shirts with the new HTML logo. And of course it's got a full gallery of sites that truly showcase what devs and designers can do with HTML5.

Neiling concludes, "Paul Rand was quoted at some point saying that great logos have 'the pleasure of recognition and the promise of meaning.' At first glance, people immediately see the number five, the badge, the power, and the excitement of this logo and the movement as a whole — they get that 'pleasure of recognition,' they get it immediately. Then the shape, the shading and very real latent meanings... also come through.

"That promise of meaning, that potential that the open web platform and the 'new' HTML5-driven web offers, that's there too."

What do you think of the new HTML5 logo? Let us know in the comments.