---
title: "Web standards - Glossary | MDN"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards"
category: "reference"
tags: "web, html, css, javascript, documentation"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T05:49:23.652432+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

  * [Skip to main content](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards#content)
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[ MDN ](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/)
HTML
[HTML: Markup language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML) 

HTML reference
    
  * [Elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements)
  * [Global attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Global_attributes)
  * [Attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Attributes)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference "See all HTML references")

HTML guides
    
  * [Responsive images](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Responsive_images)
  * [HTML cheatsheet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Cheatsheet)
  * [Date & time formats](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Date_and_time_formats)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides "See all HTML guides")

Markup languages
    
  * [SVG](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG)
  * [MathML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/MathML)
  * [XML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/XML)

CSS
[CSS: Styling language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS) 

CSS reference
    
  * [Properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Properties)
  * [Selectors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors)
  * [At-rules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/At-rules)
  * [Values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference "See all CSS references")

CSS guides
    
  * [Box model](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Box_model/Introduction)
  * [Animations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Animations/Using)
  * [Flexbox](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Flexible_box_layout/Basic_concepts)
  * [Colors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Applying_color)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides "See all CSS guides")

Layout cookbook
    
  * [Column layouts](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Column_layouts)
  * [Centering an element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Center_an_element)
  * [Card component](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Card)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook)

JavaScriptJS
[JavaScript: Scripting language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript) 

JS reference
    
  * [Standard built-in objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects)
  * [Expressions & operators](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators)
  * [Statements & declarations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements)
  * [Functions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference "See all JavaScript references")

JS guides
    
  * [Control flow & error handing](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Control_flow_and_error_handling)
  * [Loops and iteration](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Loops_and_iteration)
  * [Working with objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Working_with_objects)
  * [Using classes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_classes)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide "See all JavaScript guides")

Web APIs
[Web APIs: Programming interfaces](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API) 

Web API reference
    
  * [File system API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_API)
  * [Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API)
  * [Geolocation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation_API)
  * [HTML DOM API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTML_DOM_API)
  * [Push API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API)
  * [Service worker API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API "See all Web API guides")

Web API guides
    
  * [Using the Web animation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Animations_API/Using_the_Web_Animations_API)
  * [Using the Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch)
  * [Working with the History API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History_API/Working_with_the_History_API)
  * [Using the Web speech API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API/Using_the_Web_Speech_API)
  * [Using web workers](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers)

All
[All web technology](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web) 

Technologies
    
  * [Accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility)
  * [HTTP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP)
  * [URI](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/URI)
  * [Web extensions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions)
  * [WebAssembly](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAssembly)
  * [WebDriver](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/WebDriver)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web "See all web technology references")

Topics
    
  * [Media](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media)
  * [Performance](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance)
  * [Privacy](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Privacy)
  * [Security](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security)
  * [Progressive web apps](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps)

Learn
[Learn web development](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development) 

Frontend developer course
    
  * [Getting started modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started)
  * [Core modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core)
  * [MDN Curriculum](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/curriculum/)
  * [Check out the video course from Scrimba, our partner](https://scrimba.com/frontend-path-c0j?via=mdn-learn-navbar)

Learn HTML
    
  * [Structuring content with HTML module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content)

Learn CSS
    
  * [CSS styling basics module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics)
  * [CSS layout module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout)

Learn JavaScript
    
  * [Dynamic scripting with JavaScript module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting)

Tools
Discover our tools 
  * [Playground](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/play)
  * [HTTP Observatory](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory)

  * [Border-image generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-image_generator)
  * [Border-radius generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-radius_generator)
  * [Box-shadow generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Box-shadow_generator)
  * [Color format converter](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_format_converter)
  * [Color mixer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_mixer)
  * [Shape generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Shapes/Shape_generator)

About
Get to know MDN better 
  * [About MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/about)
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  * [Community](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/community)
  * [MDN on GitHub](https://github.com/mdn)

[Blog](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/)
  1. [Glossary](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary)
  2. [Web standards](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards)

# Web standards
Web standards are rules established by international standards bodies that define how the [Web](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/World_Wide_Web) works (and which sometimes control the [Internet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Internet) as well).
Several standards bodies are responsible for defining different aspects of the Web, and all the standards must coordinate to keep the Web maximally usable and accessible. Web standards also must evolve to improve the current status and adapt to new circumstances.
This non-exhaustive list gives you an idea of which standards websites and network systems must conform to:
  * **IETF** (Internet Engineering Task Force): Internet standards (STD), which among other things govern set-up and use of [URIs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/URI), [HTTP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTTP), and [MIME](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/MIME)
  * **[W3C](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/W3C)** : specifications for markup language (e.g., [HTML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML)), style definitions (i.e., [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/CSS)), [DOM](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/DOM), [accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Accessibility)
  * **IANA** (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority): name and number registries
  * **Ecma Intl.:** scripting standards, most prominently for [JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/JavaScript)
  * **[ISO](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/ISO)** (International Organization for Standardization): standards governing a diverse array of aspects, including character encodings, website management, and user-interface design

## In this article
  * [Opposing standards](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards#opposing_standards)
  * [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards#see_also)

##  [Opposing standards](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards#opposing_standards)
Occasionally, the members of a standards body may disagree with how a feature is developing, and some may **oppose** it. This means that technology implementers (for example web browser vendors) who disagree with the feature in its current form are unlikely to ever implement it.
Vendors that _do agree_ with the feature usually still implement it so that it is available to experiment with and provide feedback on. This enables interested parties to build use cases and demonstrate the issues with the feature, hopefully working toward reaching a consensus on a future version.
Standards body members often publish a record of their position on different standards, for reference. For example, see [Mozilla Specification Positions](https://mozilla.github.io/standards-positions/) and [WebKit Standards Positions](https://webkit.org/standards-positions/).
##  [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Web_standards#see_also)
  * [Web standards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_standards) on Wikipedia