In a blog entry Thursday, HTML specification editor Ian Hickson announced that the HTML specification will no longer have a version number attached. The WHATWG version of the specification will be treated as a "living standard" that will evolve organically as additions are integrated, sort of like a rolling release model.

The need for clear HTML versioning has diminished and is arguably superfluous. Browser vendors tend to implement new HTML features at their own pace regardless of the status of the standardization process. Web developers will adopt the new features when there are mature implementations available across enough mainstream browsers. This used to be a glacially slow process, but it has accelerated considerably over the past few years. A significant number of HTML 5 features are already in widespread use despite the fact that the new version of the standard hasn't been officially finalized.

"In practice, the WHATWG has basically been operating like this for years, and indeed we were going to change the name last year but ended up deciding to wait a bit since people still used the term 'HTML5' a lot," Hickson wrote. "However, the term is now basically being used to mean anything Web-standards-related, so it's time to move on!"

The decision to remove the version number is little more than a move to strip away a small bit of unnecessary bureaucracy and acknowledge how the HTML standards ecosystem actually functions. Hickson notes that W3C, which is technically responsible for publishing the HTML standard, will likely have "snapshots" that reflect stable milestones of the ever-changing WHATWG version.