HTML
HyperText Markup Language The most common markup language. It stands for HyperText Markup Language
. There are several versions.
- HTML 1
- This version uses only a few basic elements and has no Doctype.
- HTML 2.0
- This was a codification of HTML practices.
- HTML 3.2
- This expanded HTML to allow for presentation.
- HTML 4.0
- A redesign of HTML that took advantage of other technologies to simplify the markup language.
- HTML 4.01
- A tweaking of HTML 4.0 that is currently the gold standard.
- HTML5
- This is still in development. This gives HTML a lot more functionality, but that's still being hammered out.
HTML 4.0 and 4.01 have three flavors: Strict, Transitional, and Frameset. Strict means no elements that are being phased out. Transitional allows these elements, while Frameset was designed for frames.
XML
eXtensible Markup Language. A metalanguage—that is, a language used to write languages. All common markup languages except HTML are based on XML. The languages are listed in alphabetical order. This is not a complete list, but simply a sampling of the range of data XML can use.
- MathML
- Mathematical Markup Language. This was designed to display mathematical equations.
- MusicXML
- This is a format used by musical score writing programs so they can share data.
- RSS
- Really Simple Syndication. Used to publish frequently-updated works such as webcomics, news bulletins, radio shows, and so on.
- SVG
- Scalar Vector Graphics. This was designed to create graphics. I used this to create all the diagrams for this book.
- XHTML
- eXtensible HyperText Markup Language. This is HTML redefined as an XML application. It is the most common XML-based language.
- XSLT
- eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations. This is used to translate a document from one XML language to another.