Suggestions

[leomuller]

Add new input types:
input type=video (upload your video response)
input type=audio (want to leave a message? audio forums?)
input type=USB device (e.g. credit card readers / USB reader, this will enable true applicaitons via the web)

richtextarea (no reason to be dependent on third party objects for this)

One more thing, I am not sure how to put this nicely, so I will put it the way it is. This website, and Ian Hickson's website are an embarressment for the web, the look and feel completely out of date. The registration process to this website is an haressment to the end-user. It can be done so much nicer and better.

But the most embarrising is having a forum that looks like it was picked up from the age of the dinosaurs and has a "U" element button for underlining text, which is on the list of tags to be finaly removed from HTML5.

It is scary that a potential future of the internet seems to be managed by people that live in the past.
Really, you can afford to hire people to better than this. If you want me to do it, I will.

[JAB Creations]

I like the idea of a rich text editor element or some sort of standardization.

I have a few disagreements with HTML5 though I can tell you creating specifications is probably not a walk in the park. More decisions could be made like keeping H.264 from getting established on the web to screw over consumers and the HTML5 group has not taken the stance they need to in order to prevent politics from being an issue.

What is the point of having input elements for audio and video when there are already audio and video elements?

You can't underline things with a u tag because that is only half of the u element. Your post was not the most friendly one that I've read here so far and using the wrong terminology on top of the tone of your post doesn't really help. Post your disagreements and see what people say first and you may find there are legitimate reasons for why things are done in a certain manner. I would say I don't agree with all decisions easily though they tend to be more of a political nature.

[mskinner]

But the most embarrising is having a forum that looks like it was picked up from the age of the dinosaurs and has a "U" element button for underlining text, which is on the list of tags to be finaly removed from HTML5.

It is scary that a potential future of the internet seems to be managed by people that live in the past.
Really, you can afford to hire people to better than this. If you want me to do it, I will.

To me, the content is far more important than the visual aesthetics. This content should also be available to as wide an audience as possible.

This forum is a few years old, but it has served us pretty well. It's goal is to facilitate communication, feedback, etc. not be a 'showcase' of HTML5.

You might also find that Ian has other commitments at work - it's not like he's sitting at Google (not the W3C) working on HTML5 all day.

The others who contribute and assist in the maintenance of this board are volunteers - who have full time jobs, family commitments, etc. There is no hiring of people involved.

Regarding your feature propositions, I would suggest reading this and updating your post as necessary:
http://forums.whatwg.org/viewtopic.php?t=41

Cheers,

Mike

[zcorpan]

Add new input types:
input type=video (upload your video response)
input type=audio (want to leave a message? audio forums?)

They are already in the spec in the form of <input type=file accept=video/*> (or audio/*).

input type=USB device (e.g. credit card readers / USB reader, this will enable true applicaitons via the web)

See <device>

richtextarea (no reason to be dependent on third party objects for this)

See contenteditable (although it currently requires scripting).

One more thing, I am not sure how to put this nicely, so I will put it the way it is. This website, and Ian Hickson's website are an embarressment for the web, the look and feel completely out of date. The registration process to this website is an haressment to the end-user. It can be done so much nicer and better.

I agree the forums are out of date and suck. (It was chosen because it was the simplest for Hixie to set up on Dreamhost.)

But the most embarrising is having a forum that looks like it was picked up from the age of the dinosaurs and has a "U" element button for underlining text, which is on the list of tags to be finaly removed from HTML5.

It is scary that a potential future of the internet seems to be managed by people that live in the past.
Really, you can afford to hire people to better than this. If you want me to do it, I will.

WHATWG is a non-profit organisation, so can't hire anyone. You're welcome to replace the forum software with something better, but you'd have to coordinate that with Hixie yourself and make sure that it is properly patched against automated spam (what we have now already is). His email is ian@hixie.ch, tell him that I have given an OK (although I would prefer the new version to be set up on a separate subdomain first before switching so that we don't lose any data or end up half-migrating etc).

[zcorpan]

You might also find that Ian has other commitments at work - it's not like he's sitting at Google (not the W3C) working on HTML5 all day.

Actually that's exactly what he does. (Maintaining these forums is not part of anyone's work, it's run by volunteers.)

[JAB Creations]

Yep, not getting paid here.