Google has launched a new Web site called HTML5 Rocks to help educate developers and designers about HTML5. And it's not just HTML5 as a technology that rocks: The Web site rocks too.HTML5, for those who've somehow missed the ongoing spat between Apple and Adobe, is the emerging next-generation standard for Web development.

In conjunction with CSS and various JavaScript APIs, it extends the HTML used to build Web pages with support for local storage, native audio and video, geolocation and a variety of other desirable features. Where earlier versions of HTML were suitable for Web pages, HTML5 is being designed for Web applications.

HTML5 is, according to many, the future of rich media online. It may not yet be as robust as Adobe's Flash technology, but even Adobe is developing tools to support HTML5.

Google has been evangelizing HTML5 in earnest since its 2009 developer conference, but more recently Apple has been particularly vocal in backing the technology.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs in April expressed concern about being dependent on a third-party development technology like Flash and sees HTML5 as an acceptable alternative to its tightly controlled iOS regime because it's an open, non-proprietary standard.

The HTML5 Rocks site can be thought of as Google's answer to Apple's Safari Dev Center.

It includes four main sections: an interactive presentation, built in HTML5, that offers an overview of HTML5's features; an HTML5 playground that allows users to edit and experiment with code; nine tutorials covering different aspects of HTML5; and a list of recommended tools and resources.

The HTML5 playground in particular looks like a great way to learn HTML5. I had been considering the online tutorials offered by W3Schools, but now I think I'll test the waters at HTML5 Rocks.

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