Markup Tools

            Various markup languages exist that designers use to render their information in Web readable format.  The chief among these is Hypertext Markup Language a series of codes and tags that tells the Web browser how to interpret and present text data and links to other documents, files, and graphics on a Web site and elsewhere on the Internet.  While this was the original standard markup language developed along with the World Wide Web itself, by the mended markup methodology, according to the World Wide Web consortium, the main body overseeing the Web’s development..

            In 2000, the chief recommended markup standard shifted to eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language, conceivable as a bride between HTML and eXtensible Markup language XML which was poised as the next generation lingua franca of the Web, particularly for e-commerce.  By the early 2000’s, however neither XHTML nor XML had been widely adopted, due largely to the great confusion these standards have caused for designers.

            HTML tags focus primarily on the structure and layout of a document, while XML leaves presentation to style sheets, focusing instead of the definition and meaning of certain kinds of information, allowing for the flexible defining of terms and parameters for various types of data.  It is for this reason that XML was touted as the future language of the e-commerce since XML deals deals specifically with giving meaning to information, allowing computer systems to intelligently apply Web-based information in meaningful ways in commercial transactions.