Hypertext markup language (HTML) has been a part of web development since the very beginning of the WWW in 1989. At the beginning, it was used to display simple documents, but as the web grew, HTML matured and adjusted to support not just documents, but also full-blown applications.

HTML is a markup language, which means that it does not have programming language-specific dynamic capabilities such as variables, loops, or functions. Its sole responsibility is to statically describe the content of a web page.

The most recent version, HTML5, added long-awaited features such as new types of form controls, canvas, native video capabilities, and numerous new JavaScript APIs.