Hypertext markup language (html)

Internet
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Hypertext markup language is an ASCII text based coding system that enable files to be moved and displayed on a variety of computer platforms.

HTML stands for HyperText Mark-up Language. It was originally conceived as a language for sharing information across networks. HTML is a set of "mark-up" symbols or codes inserted in a file, which is going to be used on the WWW. Broken down HTML is:

HYPER: meaning kind of "all over the place" and in terms of HTML means when you are using a browser you can go all over the place.
TEXT: Text only files are dealt with in HTML, a major difference to SGML. HTML is actually a standard ASCII text file.
MARK-UP: refers to the fact that web pages are created by typing in text which is then marked up using codes and tags, which indicate the formatting of the text.
LANGUAGE: means you are using a language with all of its syntax.

HTML is important in terms of the web because it is the standard recommended by the WWW Consortium and therefore adhered to by the major net browsers.

There are four versions of HTML
Ref: Gilson, J.C ( ). HTML [Online]. Available: WWW URL:http://www.bfree.on.ca/HTML/

HTML 1.0 which contained only simple tags to specify meaning
HTML 2.0 was introduced in September 1995 and is supported by most, if not all browsers today. This builds on HTML 1.0 by adding options for web-page design and until January 1997 was the standard for web page design.
HTML 3.0 attempted to aid web page designers who wanted more control over their documents and did offer some enhancement to 2.0 but most browsers only implemented bits and pieces of 3.0 and relied more on browser specific tags which were created during the reign of 2.0 by browsers to offer users more, so 3.0 was not really used, and later abandoned.
- HTML 3.2 or WILBUR
  This replaced 3.0 and recognised that because more browser specific tags were being introduced a new standard was needed. It became the official standard in January 1997. Among the features of 3.2 was tables, applets, textflow around images, superscripts and subscripts
  (Ref: Microsoft Corporation (1999). Microsoft Frontpage 98 Online Brochure [Online]. Available: http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/98/98IntPg1.htm)
HTML 4.0 or COUGAR
This is the current version of HTML, which became the recommendation in December 1997 and as of April 1998, is the official language. It includes aspects of the expired HTML draft. Features of this version include:
- Cascading style sheets.
- The ability to create richer forms.
- Support for frames.
- The capability to manage pages so that they can be distributed in different languages