HTML 4

What is HTML 4.0?
HTML 4.0 was a large shake-up to the HTML standards that arrived in April 1998. The HTML language you have learnt is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a growing Internet. Things get added, some things get taken away and still more tags are asked to fade out gracefully. These changes ensure that designers have the freedom and power available to create increasingly complex websites and are able to achieve this efficiently.
It only happens every few years, and the changes are made by the » World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who are HTML’s governing body, as it were. They convene and design the specifications that we all work with when creating websites (CSS was designed by the W3C too). They look at weaknesses in HTML’s framework, and sort them out, which makes writing code easier for everybody.
The standard we were all working with before this was HTML 3.2. That was used for a while before the W3C decided to step it up another notch a few years ago. As of now, HTML 4 is the accepted standard, and the majority of web users do have browsers that support it fully. Some of the more peripheral new tags have yet to gain full support in the latest round of browsers, but they’re on the way. Modern browsers will generally have no problem with anything in these specs.
Versions
If you have used any software you will have undoubtedly noticed how every few months it advances its number. I used to use HomeSite 4, until they improved it and it became HomeSite 4.5. Adding a decimal to the version number signifies a minor change to the original. If Macromedia make major changes to their editor, they will move up a whole number to version 5. This is the same way most dynamic things work. As you can see, the original HTML 3.0 spec was revised to version 3.2 before the big change to 4.
There was some confusion when HTML 4 started being discussed, as at the time version 4 browsers were making their appearance and people thought there was some connection. In reality, the two separate things had just reached those versions simultaneously, not because of each other. As you know, browser technology has advanced to version 6 stages by now, and HTML is still at level 4. So there’s no real connection; though, that said, it was in the version 4 browsers that HTML 4 started being incorporated properly. Glad that’s cleared up.
A few months after HTML 4.0 was released, its documentation was updated to correct some minor problems, and its version number was bumped up slighty. So the final final version of this standard is HTML 4.01.
DOCTYPEs Ahoy
Nowadays the Document Type Declaration (DTD) at the top of your document is very important if you want the browsers to render your page correctly. Without it, browsers might interpret your code more loosely, and you may have display errors. The HTML 4 DTDs are below. Take your pick.
Use the strict DTD if you’re using pure, structural code with no hacks:

The transitional DOCTYPE, below, is the most commonly used, and still permits you to use certain old tags that we will eventually stop using altogether. It is probably the best choice until you’ve gotten to know HTML really well. Once you’re ready, you can start using the stricter DOCTYPE above.

Finally, for frameset pages, use the frameset DTD:

Simply add this line of code to the very top of your HTML pages (before the tag), and you’re away. Then run your page through the » HTML validator to see if you’re obeying the rules.
The new Tags
There are 22 tags new to HTML in the 4.01 specifications, and they cover all the areas, from text-formatting to tables to frames and the rest. Most of these tags have been covered in tutorials elsewhere here in HTMLSource, and so where appropriate there are links to these in-depth pages. Most of the text formatting tags will make the text they mark up look a little different. You can see the effects of these tags in the text formatting list.

This is used to show an ABBReviated version of a word, and to offer the full version. When a reader leaves their mouse on the word, the full version pops up.The code would be abbr.

Similar to the one above, this is used for special abbreviations called acronyms (initialled abbreviations that can be spoken as a word themselves). It works the same way.NATO