What is the Difference Between HTML and SGML?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚The main difference between HTML and SGML lies in their purpose and scope. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a markup language used for creating web pages and web applications, focusing on the visual appearance of the content for web browser rendering. On the other hand, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is a standard for defining markup languages, which can be used to represent document structure, content, and data in various applications and industries.
Some key differences between HTML and SGML include:
- Purpose: HTML is designed to organize and display material on the Internet, while SGML is a more general markup language created and managed for markup languages used in various applications and businesses.
- Implementation Overhead: Creating and maintaining SGML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) can be resource-intensive, whereas HTML is more straightforward and widely supported by web browsers.
- Rich Metadata: Compared to HTML, SGML has more extensive metadata features, making it more suitable for applications that require a lot of data.
- Relationship: HTML is based on SGML, meaning that it is one example of a markup language defined using SGML.
In summary, HTML is a specific markup language used for creating web pages and web applications, while SGML is a standard for defining markup languages that can be applied to various document types and data structures.
Comparative Table: HTML vs SGML
Here is a table comparing the differences between HTML and SGML:
| Feature | HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Designed for creating web pages and web applications. | A standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. |
| Full Form | Hypertext Markup Language. | Standard Generalized Markup Language. |
| Type | Markup language used for creating web pages. | Standard used to define markup languages for various applications and industries. |
| Extended From | Extended from SGML. | Derived from IBM's Generalized Markup Language (GML). |
| Accessed By | Accessed by web browsers. | Not natively supported by web browsers. |
| Implementation | Easier to implement and maintain. | Requires more effort and resources to create and maintain. |
| Rich Metadata | Has fewer metadata features compared to SGML. | Provides more expressive and adaptable language for defining markup languages. |
In summary, HTML is a subset of SGML and is specifically designed for creating web pages and web applications, while SGML is a more general markup language used to define markup languages for various applications and industries. HTML is easier to implement and maintain compared to SGML, and it is natively supported by web browsers.