History of HTML

2.1 Origins

• 1991 → HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee, a physicist at CERN.
• It was created to help scientists share documents easily over the internet.

2.2 Evolution Timeline

• 1991 → First proposal of HTML (with just 18 tags).
• 1995 → HTML 2.0 (official specification, more standard).
• 1997 → HTML 3.2 (tables, applets, scripting).
• 1999 → HTML 4.01 (forms, accessibility, CSS support).
• 2008 → HTML5 draft released by WHATWG.
• 2014 → HTML5 official standard (multimedia, APIs, semantic tags).
• Today → Living standard maintained by WHATWG (not versioned, continuously updated).

2.3 Key Organizations

• W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) → Early standardization body.
• WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group) → Now maintains HTML as a “living standard.”

2.4 HTML Then Vs Now

1991 Original HTML

1991.html

<HTML>
  <HEAD>
    <TITLE>My First Page</TITLE>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <H1>Hello World</H1>
    <P>Welcome to my first website.</P>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

Modern HTML5

2025.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Modern HTML5 Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <h1>Hello World</h1>
    </header>
    <main>
      <p>Welcome to my first website with HTML5.</p>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

2.5 Key Takeaways

• HTML was invented in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee.
• It evolved through versions: 2.0 → 3.2 → 4.01 → 5.0 → Living Standard.
• Now maintained by WHATWG instead of W3C.
• HTML5 introduced semantic elements, multimedia, and APIs.