Editing Comparison of document markup languages

{{Short description|none}}
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of [[document markup language|document markup languages]]. Please see the individual markup languages' articles for further information.

==General information==
{{See also | Lightweight markup language }}<!-- Since the following tables do not (and likely should not) contain all markup languages --> 
Basic general information about the markup languages: creator, version, etc.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 100%;"
|- style="background: #ececec"
! style="width:15em" | [[Markup language|Language]]
! First public release date
! Creator
! Editor
! [[File viewer|Viewer]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[AsciiDoc]]
| 2002
| Stuart Rackham
| [[Text editor]]
| Output to [[XHTML]], [[HTML]], [[DocBook]] (which can convert to [[PDF]], [[EPUB]], [[Device_independent_file_format|DVI]], [[LaTeX]], [[roff (computer program)|roff]], and [[PostScript]])
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Computable Document Format]]
| 2010
| [[Wolfram Research]]
| [[Wolfram Language]] & [[Mathematica]]
| [[CDF Player]]; CDF format can also be embedded in web pages viewable with conventional browsers.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Creole (markup)|Creole]]
| 2007
| 
| [[Text editor]]
| Output to [[HTML]], [[Rich_Text_Format|RTF]], [[LaTeX]], others; renderers for [[Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library|MFC]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Darwin Information Typing Architecture|Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)]]
| 2005
| IBM, [[OASIS (organization)|OASIS]]
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]]
| Output to [[HTML]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[Microsoft Compiled HTML Help|CHM]], [[javadoc]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[DocBook]]
| 1992
| The Davenport Group, [[OASIS (organization)|OASIS]]
| [[XML editor]]
| Output to [[HTML]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[Microsoft Compiled HTML Help|CHM]], [[javadoc]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Encoded Archival Description|Encoded Archival Description (EAD)]]
| 1998
| Berkeley Project
| [[Text editor]]
| [[Web browser]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[XHTML|Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)]]
| 2000 (January 26)
| [[W3C]]
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]], [[HTML editor]]
| [[Web browser]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/halibut/ Halibut]
| 1999
| [[Simon Tatham]]
| [[Text editor]] 
| Output to ASCII text, [[HTML]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[PostScript]], [[Man_page|Unix man pages]], [[Info_(Unix)|GNU Info]], [[Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help|Windows Help (.CHM files)]], Windows WinHelp (old .HLP files)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[HTML|HyperText Markup Language (HTML)]]
| 1993
| [[Tim Berners-Lee]]
| [[Text editor]], [[HTML editor]]
| [[Web browser]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[GNU_LilyPond|LilyPond]]
| 1996
| [[Han-Wen Nienhuys]], [[Jan Nieuwenhuizen]]
| [[Text editor]], [[Scorewriter]]
| Output to [[DVI file format|DVI]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[PostScript]], [[Portable_Network_Graphics|PNG]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Maker Interchange Format|Maker Interchange Format (MIF)]]
| 1986
| [[Adobe FrameMaker|Frame Technology]] acquired by [[Adobe Systems]] in 1995
| [[Text editor]], [[FrameMaker]]
| [[FrameMaker]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[MakeDoc]]
| 2000
| [[Carl Sassenrath]]
| [[Text editor]]
| [[Web browser]] ([[XHTML]] or [[HTML]] output)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Markdown]]
| 2004
| [[John Gruber]]
| [[Text editor]], [[E-mail client]]
| [[Web browser]] ([[XHTML]] or [[HTML]] output), preview in gedit-markdown-plugin
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[MathML|Math Markup Language (MathML)]]
| 1999 (July)
| [[W3C]]
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]], [[TeX]] converter
| [[Web browser]], [[Word processor]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Music Encoding Initiative|The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI)]]
| 1999
| The MEI Community
| [[XML editor]]
| Verovio
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[MusicXML|Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML)]]
| 2002
| Recordare
| [[Scorewriter]]
| [[Scorewriter]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [https://mystmd.org/ MyST Markdown]
| 2019
| ExecutableBooks team
| [[Text editor]]
| Output to [[Word processor]], [[LaTeX]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[Markdown]].
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Office Open XML|Office Open XML (OOXML)]]
| 2006
| [[Ecma International]], [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]]
| [[Office suite]]
| [[Office suite]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[OpenDocument|OpenDocument Format (ODF)]]
| 2005
| [[OASIS (organization)|OASIS]], [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] 
| [[Office suite]]
| [[Office suite]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[OMDoc|Open Mathematical Documents (OMDoc)]]
| 2000
| [[Michael Kohlhase]]
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]]<ref>An [[Emacs]] mode and a [[Add-on (Mozilla)|Mozilla extension]] are available.</ref>
| Output to [[XHTML]]+[[MathML]], [[TeX]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Org-mode]]
| 2003
| Org-mode project
| [[Emacs]], text editor
| [[Emacs]]. Output to [[HTML]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[DocBook]], [[FreeMind]], [[OpenDocument|OpenDocument Format (ODF)]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[reStructuredText]]
| 2001<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html#history|title=An Introduction to reStructuredText|website=docutils.sourceforge.net|date=2 April 2022 }}</ref>
| David Goodger
| [[Text editor]]
| Output to [[HTML]], [[LaTeX]], [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[Man_page|Unix man pages]], [[OpenDocument|ODT]], [[S5_(file_format)|S5 (HTML Slide Shows)]], [[XML]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Scalable Vector Graphics|Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)]]
| 2004
| [[W3C]]
| [[List of vector graphics editors|Vector graphics editor]]
| [[Web browser]], etc.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[SCRIPT (markup)|Script]]<br>[[IBM Generalized Markup Language|GML]]
| data-sort-value="1968" | 1968<br>1971
| [[IBM]]
| [[Text editor]]
| GDDM, [[IBM Advanced Function Printing (AFP)|AFP]] viewer
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[TeX]]<br>[[LaTeX]]
| data-sort-value="1978" | 1978<br>1984
| [[Donald Knuth]]<br>[[Leslie Lamport]]
| [[Text editor]]
| [[DVI file format|DVI]] or [[Portable Document Format|Portable Document Format (PDF)]] converter
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Texinfo]]
| 1986
| [[Richard Stallman]]
| [[Text editor]]
| output to [[DVI file format|DVI]], [[Portable Document Format|Portable Document Format (PDF)]], [[HTML]], [[DocBook]], others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[TeXmacs|TeXmacs format]]
| 1998
| [[Joris van der Hoeven]]
| [[Text editor|Text]] editor/[[GNU TeXmacs#The TeXmacs editor|TeXmacs editor]]
| [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] or [[PostScript]] files. Converters exist for [[TeX]]/[[LaTeX]] and [[XHTML]]+[[Mathml]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Textile (markup language)|Textile]]
| 2002<ref>{{cite web|url=http://textism.com/tools/textile/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021226035527/http://textism.com/tools/textile/|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 December 2002|title=Textism › Tools › Textile|date=26 December 2002}}</ref>
| Dean Allen
| [[Text editor]]
| [[Web browser]] ([[XHTML]] or [[HTML]] output), reference and tester (uses latest PHP-Textile version 3.5.5)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Text Encoding Initiative|Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)]]
| 1990
| Text Encoding Initiative Consortium
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]]
| [[Web Browser]] (using [[XHTML]]), [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], [[Word Processor]] (using [[OpenDocument|ODF]]) or [[EPUB]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[troff|troff (typesetter runoff)]], [[Groff (software)|groff (GNU runoff)]]
| 1973
| [[Joe Ossanna]]
| [[Text editor]]
| groffer, or output to [[PostScript]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Wireless Markup Language|Wireless Markup Language (WML)]]
| 1999
| [[WAP Forum]]
| [[Text editor|Text]]/[[XML editor]]
| [[Mobile browser]]
|- style="background: #ececec" class="sortbottom"
! [[Markup language|Language]]
! First public release date
! Creator
! Editor
! [[File viewer|Viewer]]
|}
Note: While [[Rich Text Format|Rich Text Format (RTF)]] is human readable, it is not considered to be a markup language and is thus excluded from the table.

==Characteristics==
Some characteristics of the markup languages.
{{Definition needed|What is the difference between control code and tag?|date=June 2020}}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"
|- style="background: #ececec"
! style="width:15em;" | Language
! Major purpose
! Based on
! Markup type
! Structural markup
! Presentational markup<ref>Many [[markup languages]] have purposely avoided presentational markups. For markup languages based on [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]] and [[XML]], [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] is used as a presentation layer.</ref>
! [[Open format]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[AsciiDoc]]
| Multi-purpose
| 
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Computable Document Format]]
| Interactive technical documents, infographics, blogs<ref>[http://www.wolfram.com/cdf/uses-examples/infographics.html Uses and Examples of the Computable Document Format (CDF)], Wolfram.com.</ref>
| [[Wolfram Language]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Darwin Information Typing Architecture|Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)]]
| Technical documents
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>Includes basic presentational content and SVG and MathML markup, officially supported in [http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/dita-v1.3-part3-all-inclusive.html version 1.3]. In select XML editors and management systems, the images and content can be viewed as rendered, through CSS mostly.</ref>
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[DocBook]]
| Technical documents
| [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]] / [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>Presentational content is supported through SVG and MathML markup. In select XML editors, the images can be viewed as rendered.</ref>
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Encoded Archival Description|Encoded Archival Description (EAD)]]
| [[Finding aid]]s
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[XHTML|Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)]]
| [[Hypertext]] documents
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>Presentational markup is deprecated as of XHTML 1.0 and no longer allowed as of XHTML 1.1</ref>
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[FB2|FictionBook]]
| Multi-purpose
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/halibut/ Halibut]
| Technical documents
| 
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[HTML|HyperText Markup Language (HTML)]]
| [[Hypertext]] documents
| [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>Presentational markup is deprecated as of HTML 4.0</ref>
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Lilypond]]
| [[Music notation]]
|
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Maker Interchange Format|Maker Interchange Format (MIF)]]
| Technical documents
| 
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Markdown]]
| Formatted Technical documents, [[Hypertext]] documents, [[E-mail]]
| Text E-mail conventions
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[MathML|Math Markup Language (MathML)]]
| [[Mathematics|Mathematical]] documents
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>[[MathML]] comes in two mark-up syntaxes: a semantic and a presentational.</ref>
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Music Encoding Initiative|The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI)]]
| [[Music notation]]
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[MusicXML|Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML)]]
| [[Music notation]]
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Office Open XML|Office Open XML (OOXML)]]
| Multi-purpose
| [[XML]] / [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[OpenDocument|OpenDocument Format (ODF)]]
| Multi-purpose
| [[XML]] / [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[OMDoc|Open Mathematical Document (OMDoc)]]
| [[Mathematics|Mathematical]] documents
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}<ref>uses Content [[MathML]], [[OpenMath]] or other formats for formulae</ref>
| {{yes}}<ref>Exact presentation of symbols can be specified in [[OMDoc]]; these specifications are used when transforming OMDoc to a presentational format.</ref>
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Org-mode]]
| Multi-purpose (notes, project management, publishing, literate programming)
| Text outliner
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[reStructuredText]]
| Technical and Multi-purpose documents<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html#goals|title=An Introduction to reStructuredText|website=docutils.sourceforge.net|date=2 April 2022 }}</ref>
| Structured Text and Setext
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}<ref>uses CSS</ref>
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Scalable Vector Graphics|Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)]]
| 2D [[Vector graphics]]
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[SCRIPT (markup)|Script]]<br>[[IBM Generalized Markup Language|GML]]
| Multi-purpose
| [[RUNOFF]]
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[TeX]]<br>[[LaTeX]]
| [[Academia|Academic]] documents<br>Multi-purpose<ref>While [[Donald Knuth]] wrote [[TeX]] for Academic publications and [[Leslie Lamport]] wrote [[LaTeX]] for similar purpose, packages are available from [[CTAN|Comprehensive TeX Archive Network]] (CTAN) for nonacademic purposes, e.g., writing scripts.</ref>
| 
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Texinfo]]
| Technical documents
| [[TeX]], [[Scribe_(markup_language)|Scribe]]
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[TeXmacs|TeXmacs format]]
| Academic documents
| [[Tree (data structure)|tree]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Textile (markup language)|Textile]]
| [[Hypertext]] documents
| AsciiDoc (based on some similarities and dates of release)
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Text Encoding Initiative|Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)]]
| [[Academia|Academic]], [[Linguistics|linguistic]], [[Literature|literary]] and technical documents
| [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]] / [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[troff|troff (typesetter runoff)]], [[groff (software)|groff (GNU runoff)]]
| Technical documents
| [[RUNOFF]]
| Control code
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | [[Wireless Markup Language|Wireless Markup Language (WML)]]
| [[Hypertext]] documents
| [[XML]]
| Tag
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|
|- style="background: #ececec" class="sortbottom"
! Language
! Major purpose
! Based on
! Markup type
! Structural markup
! Presentational markup
! [[Open format]]
|-
|}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [[List of document markup languages]]
* [[Comparison of Office Open XML and OpenDocument]]
* [[Comparison of e-book formats]]
* [[Comparison of data-serialization formats]]

[[Category:Markup language comparisons|Document markup languages]]
[[Category:Markup languages|*Comparison of document markup languages]]

{{HTML editors}}
{{Ebooks}}