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HTML better known as Hyper Text Markup Language is a tool for writing scripts to develop web pages. It has come a long way since it came into existence for the first time in 1991.

Web designing does still use HTML but it is not the only language used for scripting. A quick glance at the history of HTML will tell you that HTML was the first language used for scripting to build a web page. It was the start language for sharing documents online. The brain behind the idea for developing a system to share documents and pages was Tim-Berners Lee. This name is still famous for the HTML tags which started the internet tour and helped make communication easier. The HTML tags consisted of a simple design for HTML. The 22 elements that were introduced in the HTML then have lost some 9 elements on its way to upgradation. The fourth version of the HTML named HTML four consists of 13 elements of the first version.

HTML is inspired from the SGML language which is Standard Generalized Markup Language. Though a little technical it is definitely good to understand SGML because it started up the whole project of W3-World Wide Web. A SGML is normally termed as a metalanguage where you are free to use various markup languages. In the basic HTML too SGML tagging was used in the initially stages but later HTML never came up to be a proper SGML document and it was preferred not to use SGML tagging any further. Upgradation did not support the SGML. Right now if you go in for programming HTML scripting is considered a baby and anyone is able to learn it. But the Lee HTML disappeared in the wind and a new HTML was created by the IETF. This HTML was the HTML working group which concluded to be the HTML 2.0 version. Now here is where we get the standard HTML on which further upgradation to make it better were made. Not many of us are aware of this history, but it is certainly interesting. Well as a matter of fact you should also know that there was no HTML 1.0 as such. There were some previous HTML and its drafts which were different from the HTML 2.0. To create the difference a version number was given and what is better then 2.0. For better results and develop a web environment suitable to all, the version 2.0 was not sufficient. Some additions were needed in this version. So additions, changes and more such work was done on the version 2.0 under the guidance of IETF for this. The version released in 2000 by the W3C is known to have an international standard which was the version 4.0. The current version running in the markets is HTML 5.0. HTML has come a long way since its inception in 1991. A lot many versions have been developed since its initial dismissal and each version found something new to exhibit to the users. The final version has made things user friendly and people definitely find HTML easier to use then any other programming language for the web designing.

Yesterday while surfing the net, an unusual observation made me wonder about a few things. Namely, how easy it was to establish communication to transfer our data. What used to take something like ages in the past is now done in minutes. With technology growing rapidly, people seem to have been able to make things simpler for everyone to grasp. Definitely getting information, being able to communicate with a pal somewhere and also applying for a job has become easier thanks to the net. But have you ever wondered who/what is the mastermind behind all this. Well it is ‘programming’ and it is as simple as that. It’s the human mind which is the centre for such easy communication and no miracle thankfully.

When Tim-Berners Lee wished to share documents between two computers, he did some programming and created a language which enabled him to share the documents. This language, he called HTML tags which were but simple a design then. With time, the HTML drafts by Lee and his team faded away. IETF, a new team on the block, worked on these dead drafts and got a whole new HTML developed which became the version 2.0. This version was made in the year 1995. Over the years from 1991 to 1995 a whole team worked day and night to come up with something good for technology. But version 2.0 was not the end of HTML. During the period between the version 2.0 and the building of the other versions a request was sent by IETF for comments on various factors like form based file upload, client side image maps, tables and internationalization. All this was given to the IETF in the year 2000. A certain Dave Raggett of the IETF, came up with the version 3.0 which contained all the elements mentioned in his proposal like tables, text flow around figures, and the display of complex mathematical elements. At the time it came into existence, it was too complicated from an implementation point of view and so nobody took the project ahead. But the interesting fact is that instead of proposing a 3.1 version, a 3.2 version was proposed and many of the features of version 3.0 were removed due to the complexity. Now at the time when 3.2 came into existence, IETF had closed down and it became officially declared the W3C. After this, HTML 4.0 came into existence straight away in the year 1997. This version contained certain flavours which were strict, transitional and frameset. It adopted browser specific attributes and removed some that were of no use. In 1998 the version 4.0 was re-released with some minor additions. This version too contained the same flavors but had some more additions. Version 4.01 came into existence in the year 1999. The latest version released in 2008 is the version 5.0. This shows that HTML particularly has undergone a lot many changes in the period of 17 years. Yet, it has survived in spite of its initial dismissal.