192 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
192 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "HTML - Glossary | MDN"
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chunk: 1/3
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source: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "web, html, css, javascript, documentation"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T05:33:26.460220+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
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* [Skip to main content](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#content)
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* [Skip to search](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#search)
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[ MDN ](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/)
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HTML
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[HTML: Markup language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML)
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HTML reference
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* [Elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements)
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* [Global attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Global_attributes)
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* [Attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Attributes)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference "See all HTML references")
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HTML guides
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* [Responsive images](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Responsive_images)
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* [HTML cheatsheet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Cheatsheet)
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* [Date & time formats](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Date_and_time_formats)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides "See all HTML guides")
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Markup languages
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* [SVG](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG)
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* [MathML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/MathML)
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* [XML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/XML)
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CSS
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[CSS: Styling language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS)
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CSS reference
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* [Properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Properties)
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* [Selectors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors)
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* [At-rules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/At-rules)
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* [Values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference "See all CSS references")
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CSS guides
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* [Box model](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Box_model/Introduction)
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* [Animations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Animations/Using)
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* [Flexbox](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Flexible_box_layout/Basic_concepts)
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* [Colors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Applying_color)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides "See all CSS guides")
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Layout cookbook
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* [Column layouts](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Column_layouts)
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* [Centering an element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Center_an_element)
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* [Card component](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Card)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook)
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JavaScriptJS
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[JavaScript: Scripting language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript)
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JS reference
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* [Standard built-in objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects)
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* [Expressions & operators](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators)
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* [Statements & declarations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements)
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* [Functions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference "See all JavaScript references")
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JS guides
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* [Control flow & error handing](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Control_flow_and_error_handling)
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* [Loops and iteration](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Loops_and_iteration)
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* [Working with objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Working_with_objects)
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* [Using classes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_classes)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide "See all JavaScript guides")
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Web APIs
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[Web APIs: Programming interfaces](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API)
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Web API reference
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* [File system API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_API)
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* [Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API)
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* [Geolocation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation_API)
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* [HTML DOM API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTML_DOM_API)
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* [Push API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API)
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* [Service worker API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API "See all Web API guides")
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Web API guides
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* [Using the Web animation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Animations_API/Using_the_Web_Animations_API)
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* [Using the Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch)
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* [Working with the History API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History_API/Working_with_the_History_API)
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* [Using the Web speech API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API/Using_the_Web_Speech_API)
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* [Using web workers](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers)
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All
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[All web technology](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web)
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Technologies
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* [Accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility)
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* [HTTP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP)
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* [URI](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/URI)
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* [Web extensions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions)
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* [WebAssembly](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAssembly)
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* [WebDriver](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/WebDriver)
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* [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web "See all web technology references")
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Topics
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* [Media](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media)
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* [Performance](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance)
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* [Privacy](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Privacy)
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* [Security](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security)
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* [Progressive web apps](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps)
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Learn
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[Learn web development](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development)
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Frontend developer course
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* [Getting started modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started)
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* [Core modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core)
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* [MDN Curriculum](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/curriculum/)
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* [Check out the video course from Scrimba, our partner](https://scrimba.com/frontend-path-c0j?via=mdn-learn-navbar)
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Learn HTML
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* [Structuring content with HTML module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content)
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Learn CSS
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* [CSS styling basics module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics)
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* [CSS layout module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout)
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Learn JavaScript
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* [Dynamic scripting with JavaScript module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting)
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Tools
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Discover our tools
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* [Playground](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/play)
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* [HTTP Observatory](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory)
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* [Border-image generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-image_generator)
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* [Border-radius generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-radius_generator)
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* [Box-shadow generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Box-shadow_generator)
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* [Color format converter](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_format_converter)
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* [Color mixer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_mixer)
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* [Shape generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Shapes/Shape_generator)
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About
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Get to know MDN better
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* [About MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/about)
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* [Advertise with us](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising)
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* [Community](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/community)
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* [MDN on GitHub](https://github.com/mdn)
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[Blog](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/)
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1. [Glossary](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary)
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2. [HTML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML)
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# HTML
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**HTML** (HyperText Markup Language) is a descriptive language that specifies webpage structure.
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## In this article
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* [Brief history](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#brief_history)
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* [Concept and syntax](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#concept_and_syntax)
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* [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#see_also)
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## [Brief history](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#brief_history)
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In 1990, as part of his vision of the [Web](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/World_Wide_Web), Tim Berners-Lee defined the concept of [hypertext](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Hypertext), which Berners-Lee formalized the following year through a markup mainly based on [SGML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/SGML). The [IETF](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/IETF) began formally specifying HTML in 1993, and after several drafts released version 2.0 in 1995. In 1994 Berners-Lee founded the [W3C](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/W3C) to develop the Web. In 1996, the W3C took over the HTML work and published the HTML 3.2 recommendation a year later. HTML 4.0 was released in 1999 and became an [ISO](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/ISO) standard in 2000.
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At that time, the W3C nearly abandoned HTML in favor of [XHTML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/XHTML), prompting the founding of an independent group called [WHATWG](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/WHATWG) in 2004. Thanks to WHATWG, work on HTML continued: the two organizations released the first draft of [HTML5](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML5) in 2008 and an official standard in 2014. The term "HTML5" is just a buzzword referring to modern web technologies which are part of the [HTML Living Standard](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/).
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## [Concept and syntax](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#concept_and_syntax)
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An HTML document is a plaintext document structured with [elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Element). Elements are surrounded by matching opening and closing [tags](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Tag). Each tag begins and ends with angle brackets (`<>`). There are a few empty or _void_ elements that cannot enclose any text, for instance [`<img>`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements/img).
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You can extend HTML tags with [attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Attribute), which provide additional information affecting how the browser interprets the element:
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An HTML file is normally saved with an `.htm` or `.html` extension, served by a [web server](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Server), and can be rendered by any [Web browser](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Browser).
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## [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML#see_also)
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* [HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML) on Wikipedia
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* [Our HTML tutorial](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content)
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* [The web course on codecademy.com](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-html)
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* [The HTML documentation on MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML)
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* [The HTML specification](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/) |