The History of HTML
The history of HTML can be seen as a long process of development and evolution. It began when a group in the late 70s, including Tim Berners-Lee and Lou Montulli, got together and developed the first working drafts of what would become the web’s most popular language. Although a lot has changed in that time, the basic structure of HTML remains the same.
Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee is the man who invented the World Wide Web, a technology that revolutionized the world. He is currently the director of the World Wide Web Consortium. However, before this, he worked as a programmer in several companies. And now, he is working towards building a more modern and future-focused web.
Tim Berners-Lee graduated from Oxford University in 1976 with a first-class degree in physics. After completing his undergraduate education, he decided to pursue research. During this time, he developed a system for organizing web pages.
He also wrote the first Web server, which served up web pages to visitors. In 1993, his server received about 10,000 visits a day. But the web was still very young.
As technology continued to grow, more and more people were using the web. By mid-November, the WorldWideWeb was running. It was an internet-based system that was free to everyone.
When Tim began his work on the web, he was recruited by veteran computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These researchers were looking for a way to allow nuclear scientists to share data.
The idea was to create a hypertext system using HTML to mark up text. This could be implemented on any machine.
A new group called the W3 Consortium was formed to oversee web development. Dave Raggett, an early computer enthusiast, invited Tim Berners-Lee, Lou Montulli, and Charlie Kindel to meet. They discussed the importance of standardizing HTML.
While discussing the project, Tim realized that the original HTML specification was a bit vague. So, to make the language more precise, he developed a new draft. His group later circulated this draft for comment.
Lou Montulli
For Lou Montulli, the history of HTML was about more than just a tag. About half a dozen key innovations also improved the fundamentals of the Internet.
Lou Montulli, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 1991, was a computer science major when he began writing his first program. He later became a founding engineer for Netscape Communications Corp.
Lou Montulliwas also a pioneer in the browser industry. He co-created the Lynx browser with Michael Grobe and Charles Rezac. This early Web browser enabled linking to text documents.
A few years later, Montulli created the first commercial Web application. His software included cookies, which allowed sites to recognize returning visitors. Eventually, he and his colleagues built e-commerce shopping carts.
Lou continued to develop his interest in the World Wide Web. He created several innovations for the Internet, including a hypertext transfer protocol that would allow for the transfer of images and information. Eventually, Montulli relocated to Silicon Valley and began working as a consultant for Netscape.
Lou’s involvement in the HTML working group helped to make the HyperText Mark-up Language a reality. Unfortunately, in the process, the HTML working group became snowed under with email.
The HTML ERB (Editorial Review Board) was tasked with creating a standard for HTML. Representatives of major companies attended meetings every three months.
Among the highlights was the Internet-Draft. It was a formalization of Dave Raggett’s ideas. One of his suggestions was to invite Tim Berners-Lee to participate. Other participants included Wayne Gramlich of Sun Microsystems Inc. and Charlie Kindel of Microsoft.
Despite its many flaws, the Internet-Draft was a significant milestone in the development of HTML. Several of its features were introduced in the version released to the public.
Framesets
Framesets have been around for a long time. They were invented as part of the early days of web design and were used to display multiple web pages within a single browser window. This allowed for easy navigation between different websites. However, it also came with some pitfalls.
For one, there was limited connectivity. Secondly, it was difficult to calculate column sizes. Finally, some users had problems viewing frames. It was not until HTML 4.0 was released that framesets became the standard.
A frameset is a group of frames in a single document. These are typically vertical or horizontal. For example, one structure may display the navigation menu, and the rest of the space is dedicated to content. The frameset is stored in its HTML file.
There are a few ways to make a frameset. First, a frameset can be nested to any level. In the beginning, this was done by using unique attributes. However, it is possible to achieve a similar effect with CSS.
You can also use the frameset as an anchor for external content. The iframe element is a good example. You can embed a frame in the range if your page is large enough. Using this approach, you can provide a sticky navigation menu at the top of the page.
Other possible things with the frameset are locking the frame’s dimensions and formatting the borders. Both of these should be done with JavaScript or CSS.
A frameset was not the foxy way to design a website, but they were still valuable for the first few years. Eventually, web designers started to move away from using this technique.
HTML+
HTML was first developed in the late 1980s. It was initially designed to make textual content readable on different devices. The initial design was for minimal markup and flowed text. However, after attending the European HyperText Convention, Tim Berners-Lee began to develop ideas for the World Wide Web.
At the time, the tech world was demanding more functionality. Specifically, they wanted more tags. The tag BLINK and the MARQUEE were considered goofy extensions. Nevertheless, they were included in the HTML standard in 1997.
After the W3 Consortium was formed, it was decided that a small group would be responsible for standardizing the HTML. This group included representatives from the various Web players, such as Netscape, Apple, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems.
Early Web enthusiasts debated the name of the image tag and how to insert images into HTML. They also discussed the possibility of creating a browser that could run on non-Windows computers.
Although Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first HTML documents in 1990, the HTML format was not finalized until 1993. That year, a working group was created to create a universal HTML standard. Various companies and academics were invited to attend meetings.
Eventually, the HTML Editorial Review Board was established. These meetings were held once a month for three months and involved representatives from major companies and the Internet engineering community. During these meetings, attendees wore T-shirts and enjoyed coffee and beer.
As HTML progressed, new features were added, including Cascading Style Sheets. These CSS are used for formatting. Another addition was the CLASS attribute, which was to be available on each element.
The OBJECT tag was also a part of the HTML standard when it was created in 1997. It was chosen from a sea of titles.
HTML5
HTML5 is a set of new HTML elements and technologies that makes Web applications easier to write and use. For example, it allows developers to add multimedia features, such as video, audio, and animations, to their sites. In addition, HTML5 has several new APIs which can be used to create more complex apps.
The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is a sizeable UN-like organization that develops web standards. After XHTML 2.0 failed to gain wide acceptance, the organization started looking for a successor to XHTML. The WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group) was ultimately formed.
The forum’s primary focus is to extend HTML4 Forms features without breaking compatibility. Moreover, it promotes open-source development.
Although HTML5 was formally released in 2014, it has been around for many years. Initially, it was based on the earlier Web Applications 1.0 specification. Since then, it has continued to evolve.
HTML5 was developed to support the demands of Web 2.0 and multimedia-based layouts. Besides that, it also has semantic elements, which make it more accessible.
In the 1990s, the web was primarily made up of static, non-interactive websites. When it came to the early days of the internet, HTML was an efficient way of displaying the vast majority of content. However, the web has been reworked in the past few years to include more user-generated content. Using HTML5 has helped web designers achieve exceptional UI interfaces.
The WebM video format was developed by Google and supported by most browsers. Similarly, the canvas> tag supports powerful drawing APIs.
Semantic tags allow screen readers to examine HTML files better. It also helps to produce cleaner code bases.
Kamil
Kamil Krystman is an SEO expert with 13 years of experience. In 2013, he founded Alfamedio LTD based in London.
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