Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference

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How the HTML Language Has Changed Over the Years...What’s Next?

Undergraduate #187
Discipline: Computer Sciences and Information Management
Subcategory: Computer Science & Information Systems

Ajiah Graham - J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College
Co-Author(s): Ronald Egson, J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College, Huntsville, AL


HTML is a markup language and not a programming language, such as Java or C++. HTML is the standard markup language used to create web pages. It is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of tags enclosed in angle brackets (like ). This theoretical research will describe how HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) language has evolved over the years. The study will also focus on the development of HTML to HTML5 (HTML 1.0; HTML 2.0; HTML 3.0; HTML 3.2; HTML 4.01; XHTML 1.0; and HTML5), and how it has evolved with the evolution of Web development. In addition, a brief description and examples of the previous HTML languages will be provided. This research is needed to identify a new and more sophisticated language that will change drastically with the evolution of web development/search engines. A theoretical research was conducted to understand and uncover the evolution of the HTML language. Literature and current research and surveys were reviewed to identify the evolution of HTML over the years. Basic HTML codes were entered into Dreamweaver to test the output. Findings demonstrated how HTML5 has thrust in almost every web based project, including apps. Research uncovered that an online service scans around 200,000 pages each month, which are often new web sites in development. The findings showed around 30% of pages scanned in December 2012 used the HTML 5 doctype, but of these only half (or 15% of the total scanned) used new HTML 5 elements and attributes (things like

and ). The XHTML 1.0 and 1.1 document types (the previous versions of HTML) accounted for just under 50% of pages scanned. Future research is needed to identify and contribute to the next step(s) in the continuing evolution of the HTML language or development of a new language. A new scan of sites will also need to be reviewed to determine the increase of the use of HTML5 or another language.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): NSF GA-AL LSAMP Grant #1305041

Faculty Advisor: Ronald Egson,

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.