A Brief History of Markup

by Jeremy Keith

27 Reader Comments

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  1. I certainly hope HTML5 developers stick to a strict standard of implementation.  We’re just getting to the point now where “developers” (quotes for a reason) are learning not to rely on browsers to correct and display bad markup properly.  In addition, as the web becomes less and less a series of sites and more a mash-up of web services, online applications and syndicated content, using strict markup is key to manipulating and maintaining the integrity of the DOM.

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  2. The HTML5 movement looks to be a great leap forward in the right direction, can’t wait to get my hands on this book :-). That first chapter was a fun read.

    It’s nice to know there are a conscious group pushing standards, semantic HTML, and future technologies to bring down the idea that anyone who can run a WYSIWYG is web designer.

    Looking forward to the era of compliant coders, not obtuse dreamweavers.

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  3. This appears to be an article upon “A Brief History of HTML” opposed to markup.  There are markup languages, that people actually commonly use, outside of HTML.

    I did enjoy your extremely brief mention of XHTML 1.1 apart from 1.0.  I always seem to get pissed when I bring such things up or mention differences thereof.

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  4. Interesting read.

    This is a good example of how a market-driven standard with a few key leaders (such as Ian Hickson) proved more suitable than the “pure” consensus approach taken by the W3C.

    Apple, Microsoft, etc are happy to conform and advance a standard like HTML5 because it’s driven by market demands rather than bureaucratic processes.

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  5. Nicely written article but I couldn’t be more delighted to hear about the HTML 5 book, Jeremy. Your DOM scripting book is fantastic and I will definitely be ordering this latest work.

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  6. I have translate “the article into spanish”:http://www.desarrollofacil.com/breve-historia-del-marcado-por-jeremy-keith-para-a-list-apart/ as I found very interesting and useful to understand a little where it comes from this standard of so many speak.

    Greetings

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  7. Keith—

    In the book you recommend using the HTML5 doctype right now.  Won’t that cause most browsers to fall back to “quirks” mode?  I can’t imagine that IE 6 or 7 recognize that doctype.  (Or am I misunderstanding how doctype works?)

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