HTML History
Many of the concepts which HTML and "the web" are based on were being discussed many decades ago. The most obvious start to HTML, however, was with the Generalized Markup Language (GML) created by Goldfarg, Mosher, and Lorie in 1969 at IBM. This was followed by SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) in the 1980s, and then HTML in 1989-1990.
GML and SGML were created to describe documents, primarily with the publishing industry in mind. SGML in particular proved difficult to use. HTML was designed specifically for the web. It is less formal and tends to be easy to use. Browsers have made it even easier to use by allowing mistakes. HTML has gone through a number of versions and is now returning to a more formalized language with the adoption of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0.
The following timeline shows the evolution of HTML:
- GML [1969] used to describe documents
- SGML [1980-1986] used to describe documents
- HTML 1.0 [1989-1990]
- HTML+ [1993] abandoned, many aspects resurface later
- HTML 2.0 [1995]
- HTML 3.0 [1995] abandoned
- HTML 3.2 "Wilbur" [1997]
- HTML 4.0 "Cougar" [1998]
- XML [1998]
- HTML 4.01 [1999]
- XHTML 1.0 [2000]
One major change that HTML has undergone has been in the philosophy of what is is supposed to be used for. The original HTML was designed with the idea that it would describe content, but not define how it would be displayed (presentation). The presentation was left up to the user agent (browser). Web designers wanted more control, however, and they got it. When Microsoft decided to undercut Netscape by giving away a browser similar to Netscape's Communicator product, both companies put a lot of emphasis on adding features. Many of those features allowed the web designer to have greater control over the way their web pages looked. This reached its peak with the HTML 3.2 specification, which included many tags and attributes designed to control presentation.
That trend has now been reversed. The HTML 4.01 specification deprecated many of the presentational features of HTML 3.2. The original idea of separating content from presentation is beginning to take hold. XHTML 1.0 is basically the HTML 4.01 specification with some additinal rules to make it XML compatible.