HTML

See also the W3C page.

Versions of HTML

For further details see the W3C HTML specs.

• HTML 4.0
• XHTML 1.0, HTML reformulated in XML.
• HTML 3.2
• HTML 2.0/RFC1866
• The ISO has standardised a version of HTML, ISO/IEC 15445:1998-HyperText Markup Language, and International Standard, known as ISO-HTML (see also the users' guide and materials). This is a subset of HTML 4.0, obtained by reference to a defined list of clauses in that recommendation.
• The old HTML 3.0 proposed standard introduced many powerful extensions to HTML, but unfortunately very little of it was implemented by the major browser manufacturers, and the proposal expired, much mourned.

Other documents about HTML and the web

These are rather miscellaneous...

• Apache server documentation (1.3) (UK mirror docs).
• Paper on LINK relationships from W3C, (plus a older one from SoftQuad). W3C working draft on web printing extensions, which includes a draft link type for `alternate printable versions'.
• Texts of RFC1867: Form-based File Upload in HTML and RFC1942: HTML tables.
• Web authoring products: Adobe Pagemill and Sitemill, and Framemaker (+SGML), Webedit, Corel web products, Claris home page, HTML Assistant Pro 3, Microsoft Frontpage, SoftQuad (makers of HoTMetaL).
• useit.com is Jakob Nielsen's site. He's the author of the well-known alertbox columns discussing web usability. Particularly good ones amongst them are Frames Suck Most of the Time (December 1996), The Tyranny of the Page: Continued Lack of Decent Navigation Support in Version 4 Browsers (November 1997, including recommendations for including navigation support in pages).
• The W3C HTML Validation Service allows you to check the syntax of your HTML documents.
• Bobby identifies accessibility and compatibility problems with web pages.
• htmltidy cleans up ragged HTML.
• Demoroniser claims to tidy up HTML generated by Borg products.
• Sandia National Laboratories have produced an excellent HTML reference manual.
• The WWW development page of the Virtual Library
• Connolly's WWW Research Notebook
• W3C have a well-regarded style guide, and some tentacle of the US government has provided a thoughtful collection of suggestions on writing accessible HTML documents.
• W3C has a large collection of pointers to HTML tools for editing HTML, as well as validating your HTML and checking your links.
• Warren Steel's sensible webhints
• Web Style Guide at the Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media.
• Notes on designing for the visually impaired
• List maintained at W3C of HTML converters, including several postscript, word/RTF, LaTeX to HTML filters