In computer science the HyperText Markup Language (literal translation: markup language for hypertexts), commonly known by the acronym HTML, is a markup language. Born for the formatting and layout of hypertext documents available in web 1.0, today it is mainly used for the decoupling of the logical structure of a web page (defined precisely by the markup) and its representation, managed through CSS styles to adapt to the new needs of communication and publication within the Interne].

HTML is a public domain language, the syntax of which is established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is derived from SGML, a metalanguage aimed at defining languages that can be used for drafting documents intended for transmission in electronic format. The current version, the fifth, was released by W3C in October 2014.

The primary reason why W3C and its members developed HTML5 was the need to directly provide functionality that was previously available through proprietary extensions outside browsers, such as Adobe Flash and the like. A second goal that the developers had set themselves was to ensure greater compatibility between different browsers, regardless of the software platform used, and mainly aimed at the expansion of mobile devices.

• Sito ufficiale, su html.spec.whatwg.org.