What's HTML5 all about and what does it actually mean, concretely, to develop HTML5 applications? NetBeans IDE 7.3 provides something called "Project Easel", which is a bundling of HTML5-related tools into a coherent toolset.

Within a matter of hours, you'll know everything you need to know about what all this is about if you follow the steps below. 

1. Get A Solid Overview. Start by viewing this screencast from JavaOne 2012 (click the media link on the right side once you've clicked the link below, a downloadable MP4 file is also available there):
   
   https://oracleus.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=4038
   
   That is an awesome way to get you in the right mindframe for what HTML5 is and how it fits into the programming world, together with a very cool and entertaining demo, presented by JB Brock. He starts with about three slides and then does a super awesome demo that puts you into the picture very quickly.
   
   
2. Understand How HTML5 Relates To Java EE. Now here's a very cool follow up to the above, again demo-driven (click the media links on the right side once you've clicked the link below):
   
   https://oracleus.activeevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=4737
   
   David Konecny takes the Affable Bean project created via the NetBeans E-commerce Tutorial and creates an HTML5 front end for it! I.e., you are shown how HTML5 can provide a different front end, as an alternative to JSF. Why would you do that? Well, that's explained in David's session, as well as in JB Brock's session, i.e., choose the right technology for the right situation. Sometimes HTML5 might make sense, other times JSF might make sense.
   
   
3. Follow The NetBeans Screencasts. To revise and firm up everything you've learned from the above two JavaOne sessions, watch two screencasts by Ken Ganfield, part 1, Getting Started with HTML5 and part 2, Working with JavaScript in HTML5 Applications. In particular, you'll learn how NetBeans IDE provides tools to thoroughly cover the needs of HTML5 developers.