HTML, which stands for
HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant
markup language for
web pages. A markup language is a set of markup tags, and HTML uses markup tags to describe
web pages.
HTML is written in the form of
HTML elements consisting of "tags" surrounded by
angle brackets (like <html>) within the web page content. HTML tags normally come in pairs like <b> and </b>. The first tag in a pair is the
start tag, the second tag is the
end tag (they are also called
opening tags and
closing tags).
The purpose of a
web browser is to read HTML documents and display them as web pages. The browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses the tags to interpret the content of the page.
HTML elements form the building blocks of all websites. HTML allows
images and objects to be embedded and can be used to create
interactive forms. It provides a means to create
structured documents by denoting structural
semantics for text such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, quotes and other items. It can embed
scripts in languages such as
JavaScript which affect the behavior of HTML webpages.
HTML programmer
HTML version timeline
November 24, 1995
- HTML 2.0 was published as IETF RFC 1866. Supplemental RFCs added capabilities:
- In June 2000, all of these were declared obsolete/historic by RFC
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- January 1997
- HTML 3.2[14] was published as a W3C Recommendation. It was the first version developed and standardized exclusively by the W3C, as the IETF had closed its HTML Working Group in September 1996.[15]
- HTML 3.2 dropped math formulas entirely, reconciled overlap among various proprietary extensions and adopted most of Netscape's visual markup tags. Netscape's blink element and Microsoft's marquee element were omitted due to a mutual agreement between the two companies.[13] A markup for mathematical formulas similar to that in HTML wasn't standardized until 14 months later in MathML.
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- December 1997
- HTML 4.0[16] was published as a W3C Recommendation. It offers three variations:
- Strict, in which deprecated elements are forbidden,
- Transitional, in which deprecated elements are allowed,
- Frameset, in which mostly only frame related elements are allowed;
- Initially code-named "Cougar",[17] HTML 4.0 adopted many browser-specific element types and attributes, but at the same time sought to phase out Netscape's visual markup features by marking them as deprecated in favor of style sheets. HTML 4 is an SGML application conforming to ISO 8879 - SGML.[18
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April 1998
- HTML 4.0[19] was reissued with minor edits without incrementing the version number
| December 1999
- HTML 4.01[20] was published as a W3C Recommendation. It offers the same three variations as HTML 4.0 and its last errata were published May 12, 2001.
| May 2000
- ISO/IEC 15445:2000[21][22] ("ISO HTML", based on HTML 4.01 Strict) was published as an ISO/IEC international standard. In the ISO this standard falls in the domain of the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 (ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 34 - Document description and processing languages).[21]
- As of mid-2008, HTML 4.01 and ISO/IEC 15445:2000 are the most recent versions of HTML. Development of the parallel, XML-based language XHTML occupied the W3C's HTML Working Group through the early and mid-2000s.
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