These technologies would require users to install browser plug-ins, and in some cases meant that certain users would be unable to access the content (for example, iPhones and iPads don't support Flash). Still, if web designers wanted to add content or features that HTML didn't support, they would have to do so with non-standard proprietary technologies such as Adobe Flash. In the early days of the Web, HTML (version 1.2) was very simple, but over time new versions were released that added more and more features. The following table shows a list of many of the types of content that can be added to web pages using different versions of HTML. Examples of types of content that can be included on web pages Therefore, HTML5 is the primary language taught in this course. However, it is already widely supported by browsers and other web-enabled devices, and is the way of the future. Currently (2011), HTML5 is still a draft specification, and is not yet an official standard. However, in recent years, the W3C (in collaboration with another organization, the WHATWG), has been working on a brand new version of HTML, HTML5. Most pages on the Web today were built using either HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0. You'll learn more about the differences between HTML and XHTML in Unit 2. Strict rules are necessary for all XML languages, because without it, interoperability between applications would be impossible. XHTML is very similar to HTML, but has stricter rules. XHTML became an official standard in 2000, and was updated in 2002. This makes XML potentially very powerful, and it's no surprise that the W3C would create an XML version of HTML (again, called XHTML).

Since each of these languages was written in a common language (XML), their content can easily be shared across applications. Hundreds of XML languages are in use today, including GML (Geography Markup Language), MathML, MusicML, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication). XML is a standard markup language that is used to create other markup languages. The most widely used version throughout the 2000's was HTML 4.01, which became an official standard in December 1999.Īnother version, XHTML, was a rewrite of HTML as an XML language. Since then, there have been many different versions of HTML. The first version of HTML was written by Tim Berners-Lee in 1993. UNIT 1 > MODULE 3 A Brief History of HTML 1993 - Present

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