The information you seek was originally written up by TimBL
way back in '91 (if not before). It's currently available at:
HTML Design Constraints
Wed Jun 29 18:15:09 1994
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/HTMLConstraints.html
This is _one_ hop off "the HTML page" at:
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/MarkUp.html
(irony: no HTML in that URL!)
In particular, check out the history section:
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/MarkUp.html#history
Now that I've answered your question, I'm really curious to know why
you couldn't find this information yourself. Or did you in fact find
it, but overlook it because it seemed out of date?
Are the basic design issues and foundations of the web architecture
so hard to find? I wonder why?
Everybody: before you post another message to www-*, please stroll
around:
HyperText Design Issues
Thu Feb 23 20:02:48 1995
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/DesignIssues/
Dan