Editing HTML (section)

=== Development ===
[[File:Tim Berners-Lee April 2009.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Photograph of Tim Berners-Lee in April 2009|[[Tim Berners-Lee]] in April 2009]]

In 1980, [[physicist]] [[Tim Berners-Lee]], a contractor at [[CERN]], proposed and prototyped [[ENQUIRE]], a system for CERN researchers to use and share documents. In 1989, 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.</ref> Berners-Lee specified HTML and wrote the browser and server software in late 1990. That year, Berners-Lee and CERN [[data system]]s engineer [[Robert Cailliau]] collaborated on a joint request for funding, but the project was not formally adopted by CERN. In his personal notes of 1990, Berners-Lee listed "some of the many areas in which hypertext is used"; an [[encyclopedia]] is the first entry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Uses.html |title=Intended Uses |first1=Tim |last1=Berners-Lee |website=W3C}}</ref>

The first publicly available description of HTML was a document called "HTML Tags",<ref>{{cite web |title=Tags used in HTML |url=http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/Tags.html |website=info.cern.ch |access-date=2 March 2023 |date=October 1991}}</ref> first mentioned on the Internet by Tim Berners-Lee in late 1991.<ref name="tagshtml" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Re: status. Re: X11 BROWSER for WWW |url=http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991SepOct/0003.html|last=Berners-Lee|first=Tim|date=October 29, 1991|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524045009/http://lists.w3.org:80/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991SepOct/0003.html|archive-date=May 24, 2007|access-date=April 8, 2007}}</ref> It describes 18 elements comprising the initial, relatively simple design of HTML. Except for the hyperlink tag, these were strongly influenced by [[CERN SGML]], an in-house [[Standard Generalized Markup Language]] (SGML)-based documentation format at CERN. Eleven of these elements still exist in HTML 4.<ref>{{cite web|title=Index of the HTML 4 elements |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/index/elements|date=December 24, 1999|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505172415/https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/index/elements|archive-date=May 5, 2007|access-date=April 8, 2007}}</ref>

HTML is a [[markup language]] that [[web browser]]s use to interpret and [[Typesetting|compose]] text, images, and other material into visible or audible web pages. Default characteristics for every item of HTML markup are defined in the browser, and these characteristics can be altered or enhanced by the web page designer's additional use of [[CSS]]. Many of the text elements are mentioned in the 1988 ISO technical report TR 9537 ''Techniques for using SGML'', which describes 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 the commands used by typesetters to manually format documents. However, the SGML concept of generalized markup is based on elements (nested annotated ranges with attributes) rather than merely print effects, with separate structure and markup. HTML has been progressively moved in this direction with CSS.

Berners-Lee considered HTML to be an application of SGML. It was formally defined as such by the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF) with the mid-1993 publication of the first proposal for an HTML specification, the "Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)" Internet Draft by Berners-Lee and [[Dan Connolly (computer scientist)|Dan Connolly]], which included an SGML [[Document type definition]] to define the syntax.<ref>{{cite web|title=Re: SGML/HTML docs, X Browser |url=http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991NovDec/0020.html|author=Berners-Lee|first=Tim|date=December 9, 1991|website=w3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222060359/http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1991NovDec/0020.html|archive-date=December 22, 2007|access-date=June 16, 2007|quote=SGML is very general. HTML is a specific application of the SGML basic syntax applied to hypertext documents with simple structure. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): A Representation of Textual Information and MetaInformation for Retrieval and Interchange|url=https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-iiir-html-01.txt|last1=Berners-Lee|first1=Tim|last2=Connolly|first2=Daniel|date=June 1993|website=w3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103041713/https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/draft-ietf-iiir-html-01.txt|archive-date=January 3, 2017|access-date=January 4, 2017}}</ref> The draft expired after six months, but was notable for its acknowledgment of the [[Mosaic (web browser)|NCSA Mosaic]] browser's custom tag for embedding in-line images, reflecting the IETF's philosophy of basing standards on successful prototypes. Similarly, [[Dave Raggett]]'s competing Internet Draft, "HTML+ (Hypertext Markup Format)", from late 1993, suggested standardizing already-implemented features like tables and fill-out forms.<ref name="html+">{{cite web|title=A Review of the HTML+ Document Format |url=http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/htmlplus_paper/htmlplus.html|author=Raggett, Dave|author-link=Dave Raggett|website=w3|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000229205146/http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/htmlplus_paper/htmlplus.html|archive-date=February 29, 2000|access-date=May 22, 2020|quote=The hypertext markup language HTML was developed as a simple non-proprietary delivery format for global hypertext. HTML+ is a set of modular extensions to HTML and has been developed in response to a growing understanding of the needs of information providers. These extensions include text flow around floating figures, fill-out forms, tables, and mathematical equations.}}</ref>

After the HTML and HTML+ drafts expired in early 1994, the IETF created an HTML Working Group. In 1995, this working group completed "HTML 2.0", the first HTML specification intended to be treated as a standard against which future implementations should be based.{{Ref RFC|1866|quote=This document thus defines an HTML 2.0 (to distinguish it from the previous informal specifications). Future (generally upwardly compatible) versions of HTML with new features will be released with higher version numbers. }}

Further development under the auspices of the IETF was stalled by competing interests. {{As of|1996|since=y|post=,}} the HTML specifications have been maintained, with input from commercial software vendors, by the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C).<ref name="raggett">{{cite book|last=Raggett|first=Dave|url=https://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/book4/ch02.html|title=Raggett on HTML 4|year=1998|access-date=July 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809234115/https://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/book4/ch02.html|archive-date=August 9, 2007}}</ref> In 2000, HTML became an international standard ([[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] 15445:2000). HTML 4.01 was published in late 1999, with further errata published through 2001. In 2004, development began on HTML5 in the [[Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group]] (WHATWG), which became a joint deliverable with the W3C in 2008, and was completed and standardized on 28 October 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=HTML5 – Hypertext Markup Language – 5.0|url=https://www.w3.org/2014/10/html5-rec.html.en|date=28 October 2014|publisher=Internet Engineering Task Force|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028233921/https://www.w3.org/2014/10/html5-rec.html.en|archive-date=October 28, 2014|access-date=November 25, 2014|quote=This document recommends HTML 5.0 after completion.}}</ref>