HTML+Standard

Version history of the standard

HTML version timeline

November 24, 1995HTML 2.0 was published as IETF [|RFC 1866]. Supplemental [|RFCs] added capabilities: January 1997HTML 3.2[|[][|13][|]] was published as a [|W3C Recommendation]. It was the first version developed and standardized exclusively by the W3C, as the IETF had closed its HTML Working Group in September 1996.[|[][|14][|]]HTML 3.2 dropped math formulas entirely, reconciled overlap among various proprietary extensions and adopted most of [|Netscape]'s visual markup tags. Netscape's [|blink element] and [|Microsoft]'s [|marquee element] were omitted due to a mutual agreement between the two companies.[|[][|12][|]] A markup for mathematical formulas similar to that in HTML was not standardized until 14 months later in [|MathML].December 1997HTML 4.0[|[][|15][|]]was published as a W3C Recommendation. It offers three variations: Initially code-named "Cougar",[|[][|16][|]] HTML 4.0 adopted many browser-specific element types and attributes, but at the same time sought to phase out Netscape's visual markup features by marking them as [|deprecated] in favor of style sheets. HTML 4 is an SGML application conforming to ISO 8879 – SGML.[|[][|17][|]]April 1998HTML 4.0[|[][|18][|]] was reissued with minor edits without incrementing the version number.December 1999HTML 4.01[|[][|19][|]] was published as a W3C Recommendation. It offers the same three variations as HTML 4.0 and its last [|errata] were published May 12, 2001.May 2000ISO/IEC 15445:2000[|[][|20][|]][|[][|21][|]] ("[|ISO] HTML", based on HTML 4.01 Strict) was published as an ISO/IEC international standard. In the ISO this standard falls in the domain of the [|ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34] (ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 34 – Document description and processing languages).ajmal.[|[][|20][|]]As of mid-2008, HTML 4.01 and ISO/IEC 15445:2000 are the most recent versions of HTML. Development of the parallel, XML-based language XHTML occupied the W3C's HTML Working Group through the early and mid-2000s.
 * November 25, 1995: [|RFC 1867] (form-based file upload)
 * May 1996: [|RFC 1942] (tables)
 * August 1996: [|RFC 1980] (client-side image maps)
 * January 1997: [|RFC 2070] ([|internationalization])
 * Strict, in which deprecated elements are forbidden,
 * Transitional, in which deprecated elements are allowed,
 * Frameset, in which mostly only [|frame] related elements are allowed;

[[|edit]] HTML draft version timeline
Logo of HTML5 October 1991//HTML Tags//,[|[][|5][|]] an informal CERN document listing eighteen HTML tags, was first mentioned in public.June 1992First informal draft of the HTML DTD,[|[][|22][|]] with seven[|[][|23][|]][|[][|24][|]][|[][|25][|]] subsequent revisions (July 15, August 6, August 18, November 17, November 19, November 20, November 22)November 1992HTML DTD 1.1 (the first with a version number, based on RCS revisions, which start with 1.1 rather than 1.0), an informal draft[|[][|25][|]]June 1993Hypertext Markup Language[|[][|26][|]] was published by the [|IETF] IIIR Working Group as an Internet-Draft (a rough proposal for a standard). It was replaced by a second version[|[][|27][|]] one month later, followed by six further drafts published by IETF itself[|[][|28][|]] that finally led to HTML 2.0 in RFC1866November 1993HTML+ was published by the IETF as an Internet-Draft and was a competing proposal to the Hypertext Markup Language draft. It expired in May 1994.April 1995 (authored March 1995)HTML 3.0[|[][|29][|]] was proposed as a standard to the IETF, but the proposal expired five months later without further action. It included many of the capabilities that were in Raggett's HTML+ proposal, such as support for tables, text flow around figures and the display of complex mathematical formulas.[|[][|30][|]]W3C began development of its own [|Arena browser] as a [|test bed] for HTML 3 and Cascading Style Sheets,[|[][|31][|]][|[][|32][|]][|[][|33][|]] but HTML 3.0 did not succeed for several reasons. The draft was considered very large at 150 pages and the pace of browser development, as well as the number of interested parties, had outstripped the resources of the IETF.[|[][|12][|]] Browser vendors, including Microsoft and Netscape at the time, chose to implement different subsets of HTML 3's draft features as well as to introduce their own extensions to it.[|[][|12][|]] (See [|Browser wars]) These included extensions to control stylistic aspects of documents, contrary to the "belief [of the academic engineering community] that such things as text color, background texture, font size and font face were definitely outside the scope of a language when their only intent was to specify how a document would be organized."[|[][|12][|]] Dave Raggett, who has been a W3C Fellow for many years has commented for example, "To a certain extent, Microsoft built its business on the Web by extending HTML features."[|[][|12][|]]January 2008[|HTML5] was published as a [|Working Draft] ([|link]) by the W3C.[|[][|34][|]]Although its syntax closely resembles that of [|SGML], [|HTML5] has abandoned any attempt to be an SGML application and has explicitly defined its own "html" serialization, in addition to an alternative XML-based XHTML5 serialization.[|[][|35][|]]May 2011On 14 February 2011, the W3C extended the charter of its [|HTML Working Group] with clear milestones for HTML5. In May 2011, the working group advanced HTML5 to "Last Call", an invitation to communities inside and outside W3C to confirm the technical soundness of the specification. The W3C is developing a comprehensive test suite to achieve broad interoperability for the full specification by 2014, which is now the target date for Recommendation.[|[][|36][|]]

[[|edit]] XHTML versions
Main article: [|XHTML] XHTML is a separate language that began as a reformulation of HTML 4.01 using [|XML] 1.0. It continues to be developed:
 * XHTML 1.0,[|[][|37][|]] published January 26, 2000, as a W3C Recommendation, later revised and republished August 1, 2002. It offers the same three variations as HTML 4.0 and 4.01, reformulated in XML, with minor restrictions.
 * XHTML 1.1,[|[][|38][|]] published May 31, 2001, as a W3C Recommendation. It is based on XHTML 1.0 Strict, but includes minor changes, can be customized, is reformulated using modules from [|Modularization of XHTML], which was published April 10, 2001, as a W3C Recommendation.
 * XHTML 2.0 was a working draft, but work on it was abandoned in 2009 in favor of work on [|HTML5] and [|XHTML5].[|[][|39][|]][|[][|40][|]][|[][|41][|]] XHTML 2.0 was incompatible with XHTML 1.x and, therefore, would be more accurately characterized as an XHTML-inspired new language than an update to XHTML 1.x.
 * XHTML5, which is an update to XHTML 1.x, is being defined alongside [|HTML5] in the HTML5 draft.[|[]