HTML 1

HTML is the language which drives the entire web. All webpages are created using HTML.

History

What does HTML mean, anyway?

Acronym

The acronym HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. The very beginnings of HTML is rooted in a Macintosh application known as HyperCard, where one could click "HyperLinks" to other HyperCards. This is the basis for how we interact with webpages today.

Markup

The M in HTML stands for Markup, which means that the actual text in a document (or page) is plainly available -- but it is annotated, or marked-up, to add additional information or instruction on how to display the text.

Language Interpretation

The L in HTML stands for Language, which is an important point. Like spoken language, HTML can be interpreted differently, depending on whom (or, what computer program) is doing the interpretation. This is why webpages can look different in Firefox vs. Internet Explorer.

What's the big deal with HTML 5?

Versions

In the early 1990s, HTML was written with style inline -- things like bold/italic, colors, fonts, backgrounds were written as normal HTML. By 1999, CSS was being more commonly used, and these style elements began to move out of HTML and to CSS. This process is called deprecation; where certain features are still available, but are noted that they'll be removed in o future version.

Standards

HTML is, at it's core, an engineering specification. It is developed, and agreed-upon by representatives from large companies in the industry, such as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Google and so on. And HTML 5 isn't a ratified standard yet -- it's only a draft spec.