Editing Markup language (section)

===Scribe, GML, and SGML===
{{Main|Scribe (markup language)|IBM Generalized Markup Language|Standard Generalized Markup Language}}
The first language to make a clean distinction between structure and presentation was [[Scribe (markup language)|Scribe]], developed by [[Brian Reid (computer scientist)|Brian Reid]] and described in his doctoral thesis in 1980.<ref>Reid, Brian. "Scribe: A Document Specification Language and its Compiler". Ph.D. thesis, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA. Also available as Technical Report CMU-CS-81-100.</ref> Scribe was revolutionary in a number of ways, introducing the idea of styles separated from the marked-up document, and a [[grammar]] that controlled the usage of descriptive elements. Scribe influenced the development of [[IBM Generalized Markup Language|Generalized Markup Language]] (later SGML),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://xml.coverpages.org/mt98-papers.html#reid|title=20 Years of Abstract Markup - Any Progress?|last=Reid|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Reid (computer scientist)|website=xml.coverpages.org|access-date=2021-08-16|archive-date=2019-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501150514/http://xml.coverpages.org/mt98-papers.html#reid|url-status=live}}</ref> and is a direct ancestor to [[HTML]] and [[LaTeX]].<ref>HTML is a particular instance of SGML, whereas LaTeX is designed with the separation-between-content-and-design philosophy of Scribe in mind.</ref>

In the early 1980s, the idea that markup should focus on the structural aspects of a document and leave the visual presentation of that structure to the interpreter led to the creation of [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]]. The language was developed by a committee chaired by Goldfarb. It incorporated ideas from many different sources, including Tunnicliffe's project, GenCode. Sharon Adler, Anders Berglund, and James A. Marke were also key members of the SGML committee.

SGML specified a syntax for including the markup in documents, as well as one for separately describing ''what'' tags were allowed, and ''where'' (the Document Type Definition ([[Document Type Definition|DTD]]), later known as a [[XML schema|schema]]). This allowed authors to create and use any markup they wished, selecting tags that made the most sense to them and were named in their own natural languages, while also allowing automated verification. Thus, SGML is properly a [[metalanguage]], and many particular markup languages are derived from it. From the late '80s onward, most substantial new markup languages have been based on the SGML system, including for example [[Text Encoding Initiative|TEI]] and [[DocBook]]. SGML was promulgated as an International Standard by [[International Organization for Standardization]], ISO 8879, in 1986.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iso.org/standard/16387.html|title=ISO 8879:1986|website=ISO|access-date=2021-08-15|archive-date=2021-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817024719/https://www.iso.org/standard/16387.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

SGML found wide acceptance and use in fields with very large-scale documentation requirements. However, many found it cumbersome and difficult to learn — a side effect of its design attempting to do too much and being too flexible. For example, SGML made end tags (or start-tags, or even both) optional in certain contexts, because its developers thought markup would be done manually by overworked support staff who would appreciate saving keystrokes{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}}.

====HTML====
{{Main|HTML}}
In 1989, computer scientist [[Tim Berners-Lee|Sir Tim Berners-Lee]] wrote a memo proposing an [[Internet]]-based [[hypertext]] system,<ref>Tim Berners-Lee, "[https://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]". CERN (March 1989, May 1990). W3C. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401051011/https://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html |date=2010-04-01 }}</ref> then specified HTML and wrote the browser and server software in the last part of 1990. The first publicly available description of HTML was a document called "HTML Tags", first mentioned on the Internet by Berners-Lee in late 1991.<ref name="tagshtml">{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/Tags.html |title=Tags used in HTML |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |date=November 3, 1992 |access-date=2021-08-16 |archive-date=2010-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131184344/http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/Tags.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991SepOct/0003.html|title=First mention of HTML Tags on the www-talk mailing list|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|date=October 29, 1991|access-date=August 16, 2021|archive-date=August 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808223716/https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991SepOct/0003.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It describes 18 elements comprising the initial, relatively simple design of HTML. Except for the hyperlink tag, these were strongly influenced by [[SGMLguid]], an in-house [[SGML]]-based documentation format at [[CERN]], and very similar to the sample schema in the SGML standard. Eleven of these elements still exist in HTML 4.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/index/elements|title=Index of elements in HTML 4|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|date=December 24, 1999|access-date=2021-08-16|archive-date=2007-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505172415/https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/index/elements|url-status=live}}</ref>

Berners-Lee considered HTML an SGML application. The [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF) formally defined it as such with the mid-1993 publication of the first proposal for an HTML specification: [https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-iiir-html-01.txt "Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)" Internet-Draft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103041713/https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-iiir-html-01.txt |date=2017-01-03 }} by Berners-Lee and [[Dan Connolly (computer scientist)|Dan Connolly]], which included an SGML [[Document Type Definition]] to define the grammar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991NovDec/0020.html|title=Re: SGML/HTML docs, X Browser (archived www-talk mailing list post)|author=Tim Berners-Lee|author-link=Tim Berners-Lee|date=December 9, 1991|quote=SGML is very general. HTML is a specific application of the SGML basic syntax applied to hypertext documents with a simple structure.|access-date=August 16, 2021|archive-date=July 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703084047/https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991NovDec/0020.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of the HTML text elements are found in the 1988 ISO technical report TR 9537 ''Techniques for using SGML'', which in turn covers the features of early text formatting languages such as that used by the [[TYPSET and RUNOFF|RUNOFF command]] developed in the early 1960s for the [[Compatible Time-Sharing System|CTSS]] (Compatible Time-Sharing System) operating system. These formatting commands were derived from those used by typesetters to manually format documents. [[Steven DeRose]]<ref>DeRose, Steven J. "The SGML FAQ Book". Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. {{ISBN|0-7923-9943-9}}</ref> argues that HTML's use of descriptive markup (and the influence of SGML in particular) was a major factor in the success of the Web, because of the flexibility and extensibility that it enabled. HTML became the main markup language for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser and is likely the most used markup language in the world today.