RFC 1866 (rfc1866) - Page 3 of 77

Hypertext Markup Language - 2

Alternative Format: Original Text Document


RFC 1866            Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0        November 1995


   As HTML is an application of SGML, this specification assumes a
   working knowledge of [SGML].

1.1. Scope

   HTML has been in use by the World-Wide Web (WWW) global information
   initiative since 1990. Previously, informal documentation on HTML has
   been available from a number of sources on the Internet. This
   specification brings together, clarifies, and formalizes a set of
   features that roughly corresponds to the capabilities of HTML in
   common use prior to June 1994. A number of new features to HTML are
   being proposed and experimented in the Internet community.

   This document thus defines a HTML 2.0 (to distinguish it from the
   previous informal specifications). Future (generally upwardly
   compatible) versions of HTML with new features will be released with
   higher version numbers.

   HTML is an application of ISO Standard 8879:1986, "Information
   Processing Text and Office Systems; Standard Generalized Markup
   Language" (SGML). The HTML Document Type Definition (DTD) is a formal
   definition of the HTML syntax in terms of SGML.

   This specification also defines HTML as an Internet Media
   Type[IMEDIA] and MIME Content Type[MIME] called `text/html'. As such,
   it defines the semantics of the HTML syntax and how that syntax
   should be interpreted by user agents.

1.2. Conformance

   This specification governs the syntax of HTML documents and aspects
   of the behavior of HTML user agents.

1.2.1. Documents

   A document is a conforming HTML document if:

        * It is a conforming SGML document, and it conforms to the
        HTML DTD (see 9.1, "HTML DTD").

            NOTE - There are a number of syntactic idioms that
            are not supported or are supported inconsistently in
            some historical user agent implementations. These
            idioms are identified in notes like this throughout
            this specification.

        * It conforms to the application conventions in this
        specification. For example, the value of the HREF attribute



Berners-Lee & Connolly      Standards Track

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