Languages for the World Wide Web

Introduction to XHTML, with eXamples
Update: XHTML 1.0 was released on January 26th as a Recommendation by the W3C. XHTML 1.0 is the first step toward a modular and extensible web based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). It provides the bridge for web designers to enter the web of the future, while still being able to maintain compatibility with today's HTML 4 browsers.

Standard Generalised Markup Language (SGML) is a simple coding language using generic semantics that are appropriate for representing information from a wide range of domains. There are several derivatives of SGML used on the web:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) Extensible Markup Language (XML) is an ISO compliant subset of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). XML is extensible because it is a metalanguage, which enables someone to write a Document Type Defintion (DTD) like HTML 3.2 and define the rules of the language so the document can be interpreted by the document receiver. The purpose of XML is to provide an easy to use subset of SGML that allows for custom tags to be processed. Custom tags will enable the definition, transmission and interpretation of data structures between organizations.

XML: Structuring Data for the Web: An Introduction is geared toward newcomers who have heard the buzz, but don't know what all the fuss is about. The article briefly surveys a number of new Web technologies such as XLL, XSL, RDF, DOM, MathML, SMIL, PGML, and how they relate to XML. Benefits of XML are stressed, as are potential applications in diverse fields. A reference section provides links to key XML resources, as well as to collections of other introductory articles. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is really a trio of specifications -- XML syntax, XLL (XML Linking Language), and XSL (eXtensible Style Language). We also briefly examine a number of XML vocabularies -- languages based upon the syntax of XML, such as MathML (Mathematical Markup Language), SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), and RDF (Resource Description Framework).

Next Generation HTML: The Big Picture focusses on the way in which the various specifications fit into the Big Picture of the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Next Generation HTML encompasses Cascading Style Sheets, HTML 4.0, the Document Object Model, Dynamic HTML, the XML family of specifications, and the many specifications based on XML, such as RDF, SMIL, and MathML. When we read about a W3C specification, it is useful to understand its role in the larger picture. To help you visualize the Big Picture, we introduce a graphic which doubles as an imagemap to whisk you directly to pages containing details about each topic. A color coding key in the imagemap informs you of the current status of each W3C document. We've also included an acronym expansion chart because the buzz words are far too many to remember.

The World Wide Web Consortium Issues MathML as a W3C Recommendation MathML is a low-level syntax for representing structured data such as mathematics in machine-to-machine communication over the Web, providing a much-needed solution for including mathematical expressions over the Web. In developing MathML, the goal was to define an XML-compliant markup language that describes the content and presentation of mathematical expressions. This was achieved with MathML.

Extensible Style Language (XSL) is a user-extensible and primarily declarative mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to XML documents.

Channel Definition Format (CDF) the proposed open industry standard for data definition of content to be pushed across the Internet

Meta Content Framework (MCF) an open standard for describing data content which includes a data structure definition format

Resource Definition Format (RDF) the proposed open industry standard to describe metadata across web documents

Open Software Description (OSD) a proposed standard to facilitate the update of software to any platform over the Internet

Other languages used on the web are not based on SGML. These are used to add interactivity and motion:

Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) a standard language for the animation and 3D modeling of geometric shapes

PHP a popular scripting language for adding dynamic content to your web pages

Perl a interpretative language used in CGI for handling text files

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. Dynamic programming on a Microsoft environment, usually using VB/JScript

Java a programming language ithat can be used for extra client-side functionality(applets) or on the server side (servlets).

JavaScript a proprietary scripting language released by Netscape which increases the aesthetics and friendliness of websites by adding author-specificed user events to static pages

Python an interpreted, object-oriented programming language

ActiveX a programming language designed for program execution in a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) used to create hypertext documents that are platform independent

Curl A fully object-oriented language, Curl takes the greatest features of HTML, Javascript, DHTML and Java and combines them into a cross-browser, cross-platform technology that's easy to learn and has some serious power behind it.