WWW: Beyond the Basics

Chapter 13 - HTML

13.2.3 Timeline for the evolution of HTML

1989 - Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau propose a networked Hypertext project for High-Energy Physics collaborations while at CERN.

1990 - The system is available on the NeXTSTEP operating system. Further proposals are made for a Hypertext project for CERN. The name World-Wide Web is decided on.

1993 - HTML 1.0 DTD is finalized March 1993. NCSA releases X-Mosaic, Mac and PC versions of Mosaic.

1994 - Web traffic overtakes Gopher traffic. NetScape "buys up" all manpower from NCSA and releases Netscape 1.0. Tim Berners-Lee leaves CERN for MIT. The W3C is founded.

1995 - European development is transferred from CERN to INRIA. WWW and the Internet fuse in the minds of non-specialists. HTML is standardized by the WWW consortium as the IETF RFC 1866, commonly referred to as HTML Version 2. Netscape 2.0 is released. March, 1995, HTML 3.0 draft specification is released and later in the year expires. It is no longer being maintained.

1996 - W3C Announces Release of HTML 3.2 (aka Wilbur): Improving Interoperability of HTML, a W3C Proposed Recommendation. HTML 3.2 is not an official spec, but a snapshot of current practice. Netscape releases 3.0. Microsoft jumps into the fray with Internet Explorer.

Next, we will examine who is in control of the evolution and implementation of HTML.


[PREVIOUS] [NEXT] [Ch 13 Toc] [Book ToC] [VaTech CompSci Dept]

Copyright © 1996 Pris Sears, All Rights Reserved

Pris Sears <sears@vt.edu>