History and Evolution

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) was initially developed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in late 1991. It was designed as a standard language for creating and formatting documents on the World Wide Web. All the web pages on the internet are made from HTML.

From 1990 to 1995, HTML underwent changes and extensions, initially at CERN and then at the IETF. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) became the new home for HTML development.

The Idea of Hypertext Before HTML

We must first examine the idea of hypertext in order to comprehend the origins of HTML. Early 20th-century pioneers like Vannevar Bush proposed the concept of tying information together through hypertext, envisioning a “memex” machine that could organize enormous volumes of information using linked microfilm.

However, Ted Nelson, an American philosopher and sociologist, first used the word “hypertext” in the 1960s. Nelson’s idea of hypertext was to develop a network of connected text and multimedia that permitted non-linear information navigation.

The Timeline of HTML’s Evolution

Here you will see the evolution of HTML over the past couple of decades. The major upgrade was done in HTML5 in 2012.

Year	Progress
1991	Tim Berners-Lee created HyperText Markup Language but it was not officially released.
1993	Tim Berners-Lee created the first version of HTML that was published and available to the public.
1995	HTML 2.0 was released with a few additional features along with the existing features.
1997	There was an attempt to extend HTML with HTML 3.0, but it was replaced by the more practical HTML 3.2.
1998	The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) decided to shift focus to an XML-based HTML equivalent called XHTML.
1999	HTML 4.01, which became an official standard in December 1999, was the most widely used version in the early 2000s.
2000	XHTML 1.0, completed in 2000, was a combination of HTML4 in XML.
2003	The introduction of XForms reignited interest in evolving HTML itself rather than replacing it with new technologies. This new theory recognized that XML was better suited for new technologies like RSS and Atom, while HTML remained the cornerstone of the web.
2004	A W3C workshop took place to explore reopening HTML’s evolution. Mozilla and Opera jointly presented the principles that later influenced HTML5.
2006	The W3C expressed interest in HTML5 development and formed a working group to collaborate with the WHATWG. The W3C aimed to publish a “finished” HTML5 version, whereas the WHATWG focused on a Living Standard, continuously evolving HTML.
2012	HTML5 can be seen as an extended version of HTML 4.01, which was officially published in 2012.

From HTML 1.2 to HTML 5 to – How HTML’s Features Evolved Over Time

With the introduction of new versions of HTML, support for additional features was added, and the user experience was enhanced. The following table shows the features introduced in later versions of HTML:

Type of Content	HTML 1.2	HTML 4.01	HTML 5	Description
Image	Yes	Yes	Yes	The img tag allows to add images to HTML document
Paragraph	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paragraph element in HTML is used to represent a paragraph of text on a webpage.
Heading	Yes	Yes	Yes	Heading are used in HTML to define variable length headings. (h1 to h6)
Address	Yes	Yes	Yes	Address element in HTML is used to contain contact information of user.
Anchor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Anchor tag is used to define hyperlink in webpage.
List	Yes	Yes	Yes	List is used in HTML to display list of related items.
Table	No	Yes	Yes	Table is used to organize data into rows and columns
Style	No	Yes	Yes	Style is used to add CSS styling to webpage
Script	No	Yes	Yes	Script is used to add JavaScript to HTML.
Audio	No	No	Yes	Enables introduction of audio to webpage
Video	No	No	Yes	Enables introduction of video to webpage.
Canvas	No	No	Yes	Enables introduction of graphics elements to webpage.