HTML History Timeline

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

This page is a brief overview of timeline of web tech.

1993-06 │HTML 1        │
1993-11 │              │Mosaic 1
1994-12 │              │Netscape 1
1995-08 │              │IE1
1995-09 │javascript    │
1995-11 │              │IE2 (SSL, cookies, VRML)
1995-11 │              │Mosaic 2
1995-11 │Cookie        │
1995-11 │HTML 2.0      │
1996    │HTTPS         │
1996-03 │              │Netscape 2
1996-08 │              │IE3 (tables, frames, JScript, CSS, Java)
1996-08 │              │Netscape 3
1996-12 │CSS 1         │
1997-01 │              │Mosaic 3
1997-01 │HTML 3.2      │
1997-06 │              │Netscape 4
1997-09 │              │IE4 (HTML, CSS)
1997-11 │              │Opera 3 (js)
1997-12 │HTML 4.0      │
1999-03 │              │IE5 (CSS2, XML)
1999-12 │HTML 4.01     │
2000-01 │XHTML 1.0     │
2000-11 │              │Netscape 6
2001-08 │              │IE6
2003-01 │              │Safari 1
2004-11 │              │Firefox 1
2006    │CSS 2         │
2006    │XMLHttpRequest│
2006-06 │              │Opera 9
2006-10 │              │Firefox 2
2006-10 │              │IE7
2008-06 │              │Firefox 3
2008-11 │              │Chrome
2009-03 │              │IE8
2011    │CSS 3         │
2011    │HTML 5        │
2011-03 │              │Firefox 4
2011-03 │              │IE9

Note: some of the dates are approximate. For example, it's hard to give a date for Cookies, CSS3, HTML5. (e.g. the date difference could be few years between: date of draft spec, recommended status, public awareness, wide acceptance.) I tend to choose a year the tech is widely used.

For a very well-done interactive graphical illustration of web tech history, using HTML5 technologies, see: http://evolutionofweb.appspot.com/ .

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