W3C HTML Activity
HTML is the universal markup language for the Web.
HTML Tutorial
To learn more about HTML, please read our HTML Tutorial.
HTML Versions
HTML 2.0
HTML 2.0 was developed by the HTML Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force in 1996.
HTML 2.0 is an outdated version of HTML. Modern browsers rely on newer versions of HTML. There is no need for a web developer to use the HTML 2.0 standard.
HTML 3.2
HTML 3.2 was released as a W3C standard on January 14, 1997. HTML 3.2 added widely used features to the HTML 2.0 standard, such as fonts, tables, applets, text flow around images, superscripts, and subscripts.
One of the elements added to the 1997 HTML 3.2 standard—the <font> tag—brought unnecessary trouble to the important task of separating HTML content and presentation.
HTML 4.0
As a W3C recommendation, HTML 4.0 was released on December 18, 1997. A second version with only editorial corrections was released on April 24, 1998.
The most important feature of HTML 4.0 was the introduction of style sheets (CSS).
Our W3C CSS section summarizes the W3C CSS activities.
HTML 4.01
As a W3C recommendation, HTML 4.01 was released on December 24, 1999.
HTML 4.01 was a minor update to HTML 4.0, correcting and fixing bugs.
W3C will not continue to develop HTML. Future W3C work will focus on XHTML.
XHTML 1.0 (Latest Version of HTML)
XHTML 1.0 re-presents HTML 4.01 using XML.
As a W3C recommendation, XHTML 1.0 was released on January 20, 2000.
Our W3C XHTML section summarizes the W3C XHTML activities.
HTML 5
W3C released the HTML 5 Working Draft on January 22, 2008.
HTML 5 improves interoperability and reduces development costs by specifying precise rules for how to handle all HTML elements and recover from errors.
New features in HTML 5 include embedding audio, video, and graphics, client-side data storage, and interactive documents.
HTML 5 also includes new elements such as <nav>, <header>, <footer>, and <figure>.
The HTML 5 Working Group includes AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, and hundreds of other vendors.
W3C HTML Specifications and Timeline
| Specification | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| HTML 3.2 | January 14, 1997 |
| HTML 4.0 | May 24, 1998 |
| HTML 4.01 | December 24, 1999 |
| HTML 5 | June 24, 2010 (Latest Draft) |