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HTML 2.0 was released in 1995 and was the first formal specification of HTML to be standardised through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It included features such as hyperlinks and images, which allowed web pages to link to other pages and display images. HTML 2.0 also included forms, allowing users to enter information and submit it to a web server (Berners-Lee and Connolly, 1995).
HTML 3.0 was a proposed version of HTML developed during 1995. It built on HTML 2.0 and introduced several new features, including tables, figures, mathematical formulas and support for style sheets. It also included improvements to forms and allowed scripts to be used with forms. However, HTML 3.0 was never released as a final HTML standard and the draft was eventually replaced by later work on HTML (Raggett, 1995).
HTML 3.2 was released in 1997 as a recommendation from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It built on HTML 2.0 and added features that had become commonly used on websites. Some of these included tables, applets and the ability to have text flow around images. It also supported features such as superscript and subscript text, as well as forms and images (Raggett, 1997).
HTML 4.0 was released in 1997 as a W3C Recommendation. It built on HTML 3.2 and added several new features, including better support for style sheets, scripting, frames and multimedia. It also improved forms and tables and introduced better support for accessibility and different languages. These changes made it easier to create more interactive and accessible websites (Raggett, Le Hors and Jacobs, 1997).
HTML 4.01 was released in 1999 as an updated version of HTML 4.0. It mainly corrected errors and made improvements to the existing HTML standard rather than introducing a large number of new features. It continued to support features such as style sheets, forms, scripting, tables and multimedia (Raggett, Le Hors and Jacobs, 1999).
HTML 5.0, usually called HTML5, was developed to improve HTML and make it better suited for modern websites and web applications. It introduced new elements and features, including built-in support for audio and video, the canvas element for creating graphics, and better support for accessibility. HTML5 also reduced the need for browser plugins for features such as playing multimedia. It became a W3C Recommendation in 2014 and was the fifth major revision of HTML (W3C, 2014).
HTML is now maintained as a Living Standard rather than being released as separate numbered versions. This means that new features and changes can be added to the standard over time instead of waiting for a completely new version. The current HTML standard includes features for areas such as multimedia, forms, graphics, web applications and interactive content (WHATWG, 2026).
CSS1 was the first version of Cascading Style Sheets and became a W3C Recommendation in 1996. It was created to make it easier to control the appearance and layout of web pages separately from the HTML. CSS1 allowed developers to change things such as text colours, fonts, spacing, backgrounds and other parts of how a page looked (W3C, 1996).
CSS2 was released as a W3C Recommendation in 1998 and added more features to CSS1. It gave developers more control over the layout and appearance of web pages, including support for different types of media, positioning elements, and using different fonts. CSS2 also introduced features such as layers, tables and improved support for accessibility (W3C, 1998).
CSS 2.1 was an updated version of CSS2 that corrected errors and clarified parts of the specification. It also made some changes to improve how CSS was implemented by web browsers. CSS 2.1 became a W3C Recommendation in 2011 (W3C, 2011).
CSS3 was developed as the next major stage of CSS after CSS 2.1. Unlike earlier versions, CSS3 was split into different modules, which allowed new features to be developed separately. It introduced features that are commonly used on modern websites, including animations, transitions, rounded corners, gradients and responsive layouts. These features gave developers more control over how websites looked and behaved (W3C, 2026).
CSS is still being developed today, but it is no longer released as one new version like CSS1 or CSS2. Instead, CSS is divided into different modules that can be updated separately. This allows new features to be added without having to wait for a completely new version of CSS. Modern CSS includes features such as flexible layouts, grid layouts, animations, transitions, responsive design and more advanced ways of styling websites. The W3C CSS Snapshot 2026 brings together the specifications that make up the current state of CSS (W3C, 2026).
The DOCTYPE declaration tells the web browser what type of HTML document is being used. In HTML5, <!DOCTYPE html> is used at the beginning of an HTML document to tell the browser that the page is written using HTML5. It helps the browser understand how to display and interpret the HTML correctly (Mozilla Developer Network, 2025).
Deprecated HTML tags are tags that are no longer recommended for use in modern HTML. They may still work in some web browsers, but they have been replaced by newer HTML elements or CSS. This is because HTML has developed over time and some tags are no longer considered the best way to create or style a webpage (WHATWG, 2026).
Some examples of deprecated HTML tags include:
These tags have been replaced by using CSS and modern HTML elements. For example, CSS can be used to control the font, size, colour and alignment of text without using deprecated HTML tags (WHATWG, 2026).
HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the standard language used to create and structure content on webpages. It uses elements and tags to define things such as headings, paragraphs, images, links and other content.
XHTML, which stands for Extensible HyperText Markup Language, is a stricter version of HTML that follows XML rules. It was designed to make HTML documents follow stricter rules so that the markup is written in a consistent and well-formed way (W3C, 2000).
The main difference between HTML and XHTML is how strict they are when writing markup. HTML is more flexible and web browsers can often display a page even when there are mistakes in the code. XHTML requires the markup to follow stricter rules, which means that elements must be written correctly and closed properly.
For example, XHTML requires all elements to be properly closed. An image would need to be written as <img src="image.jpg" alt="Image" /> rather than leaving the tag open. XHTML also requires element names and attribute names to be written in lowercase. Attribute values must also be placed inside quotation marks. Elements must also be properly nested, meaning that tags must be closed in the correct order (W3C, 2000).
These rules make XHTML documents more consistent and ensure that the markup follows XML standards.
Information Management
HTML is now maintained as a Living Standard rather than being released as separate numbered versions.
Some examples of HTML entities are: ® Registered Trademark, ™ Trademark, € Euro Symbol.