Tags for this article: berners lee, history, html, markup, w3c
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.