Intro to HTML History of HTML

Learning objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to articulate the historical development of HTML and identify its role in shaping the modern internet.

History

HTML is a markup language used to create the basic structure of documents on the internet. It is the standard language for any web document displayed in your browser. HTML is used to designate the role of each element on a page and create connections to other web pages.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee developed HTML at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in the early 1990s. Originally intended as a tool for building cross-references between academic papers, HTML quickly became the foundational tool of the modern internet thanks to its ability to structure and create links between web documents.

Today, the HTML spec is governed by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG).