Explore the history of the Internet, the Web, and HTML
Compare the different versions of HTML
Exploring the History of the World Wide Web
Before you start creating a Web page, it will be helpful to first look at the history of the Web and the development of HTML. You'll start by reviewing networks and learn how they led to the creation of the World Wide Web.
Networks
A network is a structure that allows devices known as nodes or hosts to be linked together to share information and services. Hosts can include devices such as computers, printers, and scanners because they are all capable of sending and receiving data electronically over a network. A host that provides information or a service is called a server. For example a print server is a network host that provides printing services to the network, and a file server is a host that provides storage space for saving and retrieving files. A computer or other device that receives a service is called a client.
Locating Information on a Network
One of the biggest obstacles of effectively using the Internet is the network's sheer scope and size. Most of the early Internet tools required users to master a bewildering array of term, acronyms, and commands. Because network users had to be well versed in computers and technology, Internet use was limited to universities and the government. To make the Internet accessible to the general public, it needed to be easier to use. The solution turned out to be the World Wide Web. They key to this was the use of hypertext. This is a method of organization in which data sources are interconnected through a series of links or hyperlinks that users can activate to jump from one piece of information to another.
Each document on the World Wide Web is referred to as a Web page and is stored on a Web server.
* Fun Fact: The earliest browsers were limited to displaying only text!*
Today's browsers are capable of handling text, images, audio, video, and interactive programs.
Introducing HTML
Web pages are files written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). A markup language is a language that describes the content and structure of a document by identifying, or tagging, different elements in the document.
The History of HTML
HTML evolved as the Web itself evolved. Thus, in order to fully appreciate HTML, its a good idea to review the language's history. The first popular markup language was the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). It was introduced in the 1980s and could be applied to almost any type of document storied in almost any format. While powerful, SGML was quite complex and for this reason limited the organizations that can afford the cost and overhead of maintaining it. HTML was created with SGML. In the early years after HTML was created, no single organization was responsible for the language. Web developers were free to define and modify HTML in whatever ways they thought best. This led to incompatibilities between the various browsers and , as a result, Web page authors faced with the challenge of writing HTML code that would satisfy the different browser versions. Ultimately, a group of Web designers and programmers called the World Wide Web Consortium, or the W3C, created a set of standards or specifications for all browser manufacturers to follow.
*Fun Fact: The W3C had no enforcement power- but it worked because it was for everyone's best interest! *
Versions of HTML that have been Developed
HTML & Style Sheets
HTML marks the different parts of a document, but it does not indicate how the document content should be displayed by browsers. This is a necessary facet of HTML because a Web page author has no control over what device will actually view his or her document. An end user might be using a large-screen television monitor, a mobile phone, or even a device the renders Web pages in Braille!
For this reason, the exact appearance of each page element is described in a separate document known as a style sheet. Each browser has its own internal style sheet that specifies the appearance of different HTML elements. A Web page author can also create a style sheet that takes precedence over the internal style sheet of the browsers and even multiple for different output devices like cell phones.
Text Editors
Because HTML documents are simple text files, you can create them using nothing more than a basic text editor such as Windows Notepad. Other software programs that enable you to create documents in different formats, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, include tools to convert their documents to HTML for quick and easy publishing ot the Web. If you intend to create a large Web site incorporating dozens of Web pages, you should invest in a specialized Web publishing software to manage all of the code and extended features of your site. Programs such as Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expression are amongst the leaders in this field.
* We are using Adobe Dreamweaver in class, but you can use any of the others to work from home! *