The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of document markup languages. Please see the individual markup languages' articles for further information.
General information
See also: Lightweight markup language
Basic general information about the markup languages: creator, version, etc.
Note: While Rich Text Format (RTF) is human readable, it is not considered to be a markup language and is thus excluded from the table.
Characteristics
Some characteristics of the markup languages.
| Language | Major purpose | Based on | Markup type | Structural markup | Presentational markup4 | Open format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AsciiDoc | Multi-purpose | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Computable Document Format | Interactive technical documents, infographics, blogs5 | Wolfram Language | Tag | Yes | Yes | No |
| Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) | Technical documents | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes6 | Yes |
| DocBook | Technical documents | SGML / XML | Tag | Yes | Yes7 | Yes |
| Encoded Archival Description (EAD) | Finding aids | XML | Tag | Yes | No | |
| Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) | Hypertext documents | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes8 | Yes |
| FictionBook | Multi-purpose | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Halibut | Technical documents | Control code | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| HyperText Markup Language (HTML) | Hypertext documents | SGML | Tag | Yes | Yes9 | Yes |
| Lilypond | Music notation | Control code | Yes | Yes | ||
| Maker Interchange Format (MIF) | Technical documents | Tag | Yes | Yes | ||
| Markdown | Formatted Technical documents, Hypertext documents, E-mail | Text E-mail conventions | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Math Markup Language (MathML) | Mathematical documents | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes10 | |
| The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) | Music notation | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes | |
| Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML) | Music notation | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office Open XML (OOXML) | Multi-purpose | XML / ZIP | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenDocument Format (ODF) | Multi-purpose | XML / ZIP | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open Mathematical Document (OMDoc) | Mathematical documents | XML | Tag | Yes11 | Yes12 | |
| Org-mode | Multi-purpose (notes, project management, publishing, literate programming) | Text outliner | Tag | Yes | Yes | |
| reStructuredText | Technical and Multi-purpose documents13 | Structured Text and Setext | Tag | Yes | Yes14 | Yes |
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) | 2D Vector graphics | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ScriptGML | Multi-purpose | RUNOFF | Control code | Yes | Yes | |
| TeXLaTeX | Academic documentsMulti-purpose15 | Control code | Yes | Yes | ||
| Texinfo | Technical documents | TeX, Scribe | Control code | Yes | Yes | |
| TeXmacs format | Academic documents | tree | Tag | Yes | Yes | |
| Textile | Hypertext documents | AsciiDoc (based on some similarities and dates of release) | Tag | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) | Academic, linguistic, literary and technical documents | SGML / XML | Tag | Yes | No | |
| troff (typesetter runoff), groff (GNU runoff) | Technical documents | RUNOFF | Control code | Yes | Yes | |
| Wireless Markup Language (WML) | Hypertext documents | XML | Tag | Yes | Yes | |
| Language | Major purpose | Based on | Markup type | Structural markup | Presentational markup | Open format |
Notes
See also
- List of document markup languages
- Comparison of Office Open XML and OpenDocument
- Comparison of e-book formats
- Comparison of data-serialization formats
References
An Emacs mode and a Mozilla extension are available. /wiki/Emacs ↩
"An Introduction to reStructuredText". docutils.sourceforge.net. 2 April 2022. http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html#history ↩
"Textism › Tools › Textile". 26 December 2002. Archived from the original on 26 December 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20021226035527/http://textism.com/tools/textile/ ↩
Many markup languages have purposely avoided presentational markups. For markup languages based on SGML and XML, CSS is used as a presentation layer. /wiki/Markup_languages ↩
Uses and Examples of the Computable Document Format (CDF), Wolfram.com. http://www.wolfram.com/cdf/uses-examples/infographics.html ↩
Includes basic presentational content and SVG and MathML markup, officially supported in version 1.3. In select XML editors and management systems, the images and content can be viewed as rendered, through CSS mostly. http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/dita-v1.3-part3-all-inclusive.html ↩
Presentational content is supported through SVG and MathML markup. In select XML editors, the images can be viewed as rendered. ↩
Presentational markup is deprecated as of XHTML 1.0 and no longer allowed as of XHTML 1.1 ↩
Presentational markup is deprecated as of HTML 4.0 ↩
MathML comes in two mark-up syntaxes: a semantic and a presentational. /wiki/MathML ↩
uses Content MathML, OpenMath or other formats for formulae /wiki/MathML ↩
Exact presentation of symbols can be specified in OMDoc; these specifications are used when transforming OMDoc to a presentational format. /wiki/OMDoc ↩
"An Introduction to reStructuredText". docutils.sourceforge.net. 2 April 2022. http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html#goals ↩
uses CSS ↩
While Donald Knuth wrote TeX for Academic publications and Leslie Lamport wrote LaTeX for similar purpose, packages are available from Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) for nonacademic purposes, e.g., writing scripts. /wiki/Donald_Knuth ↩