I had never heard of the term markup language until the Internet became popular during the 1990s. This article will explore what markup language is and why it is required.
A markup language can be used for the following.
- Define how the contents of a document will be laid out and displayed. Examples of this type of markup includes HTML.
- Define the meaning of the document content. Examples of this type of markup includes XML.
Tags define the content, and the syntax varies from language to language.
Why don’t we take a closer look at how markup can be used to define the layout of a document by looking at HTML.
HTML a Markup language which defines the layout of text
The textual content of the webpage you are reading is contained within one text file. The layout and look of this article are defined by various technology.
In my mind, the cornerstone technology in a webpage, such as the article you are reading at the moment, is HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which allows the content to be displayed how the author attended. As well as allowing images, sound and videos to be displayed alongside the written content of a web page should the author decide to do so.
Your browser downloaded the content of this article and processed the document. This process is known as parsing. With the aid of linked content, you should be able to see an image before the heading introducing the next section of this article.
XML Mark-up to define structure within a document
While HTML we discussed in the section above defines the layout of a document, XML (eXtended Markup language) gives meaning to the contents of a text document.
XML provides meaning by allowing tags to be defined within the document. Many XML standards have been developed over the years.
Conclusion
In this article, we have looked at both HTML and XML. I’m planning to write some guides on articles in another markup language supported in some modern text editors and knowledge management and productivity systems such as Obsidian and Notion. This language is called Markdown.
Meanwhile, could I recommend my article on how I use Notion and Obsidian together.