Author: Christos Drogkidis Date: 02-12-2025
Introduction
HTML was the language that built the Web. But today it has become a burden: full of legacy baggage, ambiguities, inconsistencies, and security gaps. Every browser has its own rendering engine, every framework tries to patch the problems, and developers spend countless hours debugging issues that should not exist.
It’s time to say it clearly: HTML is dead. The future of Web markup is JML (JSON Markup Language).
Why HTML Can’t Continue
- Legacy baggage: Decades of backward compatibility
- Ambiguity: Tags with unclear or context-dependent behavior
- Security: Inline scripts, injection, parsing quirks -…
Author: Christos Drogkidis Date: 02-12-2025
Introduction
HTML was the language that built the Web. But today it has become a burden: full of legacy baggage, ambiguities, inconsistencies, and security gaps. Every browser has its own rendering engine, every framework tries to patch the problems, and developers spend countless hours debugging issues that should not exist.
It’s time to say it clearly: HTML is dead. The future of Web markup is JML (JSON Markup Language).
Why HTML Can’t Continue
- Legacy baggage: Decades of backward compatibility
- Ambiguity: Tags with unclear or context-dependent behavior
- Security: Inline scripts, injection, parsing quirks
- Inconsistency: Different results across browsers
What is JML
JML is a new markup language that:
- Uses JSON-like syntax syntax for clarity and predictability
- Transforms into DSL and AST for safe parsing
- Produces HTML only when the structure is fully valid
- Provides warnings for structural issues
- Supports HTML5, SVG, MathML, custom elements, ARIA, and more — without hacks
JML Example
Traditional HTML
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Profile</title>
<meta name="description" content="Basic profile page">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="./assets/css/style.css">
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="./favicon.ico">
<link rel="canonical" href="./">
<script type="text/javascript" src="./assets/js/app.js"></script>
<style>
.card { border: 1px solid #ccc; padding: 16px; border-radius: 8px; }
.name { font-weight: 600; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<header id="top" class="site-header">
<h1>Welcome</h1>
</header>
<main>
<section class="card">
<h2 class="name">Jane Doe</h2>
<p data-info="safe">Front-end developer</p>
<a href="./contact.html" rel="noopener">Contact</a>
<img src="./assets/img/avatar.png" alt="Profile photo" width="120" height="120">
</section>
</main>
</body>
</html>
The same page in JML
html:lang('en') {
head {
meta:charset('utf-8')
title {`Profile`}
meta:name('description'),content('Basic profile page')
meta:name('viewport'),content('width=device-width, initial-scale=1')
link:rel('preload'),as('style'),href('./assets/css/style.css')
link:rel('icon'),type('image/x-icon'),href('./favicon.ico')
link:rel('canonical'),href('./')
script:type('text/javascript'),src('./assets/js/app.js')
style {
`.card { border: 1px solid #ccc; padding: 16px; border-radius: 8px; }
.name { font-weight: 600; }`
}
}
body {
header:id('top'),class('site-header') {
h1 {`Welcome`}
}
main {
section:class('card') {
h2:class('name') {`Jane Doe`}
p:data-info('safe') {`Front-end developer`}
a:href('./contact.html'),rel('noopener') {`Contact`}
img:src('./assets/img/avatar.png'),alt('Profile photo'),width('120'),height('120')
}
}
}
}
Internal DSL representation
TAG html LANG 'en'
TAG head
TAG meta CHARSET 'utf-8'
TAG title
TEXT 'Profile'
TAG meta NAME 'description' CONTENT 'Basic profile page'
TAG meta NAME 'viewport' CONTENT 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1'
TAG link REL 'preload' AS 'style' HREF './assets/css/style.css'
TAG link REL 'icon' TYPE 'image/x-icon' HREF './favicon.ico'
TAG link REL 'canonical' HREF './'
TAG script TYPE 'text/javascript' SRC './assets/js/app.js'
TAG style
TEXT '.card { border: 1px solid #ccc; padding: 16px; border-radius: 8px; }
.name { font-weight: 600; }'
TAG body
TAG header ID 'top' CLASS 'site-header'
TAG h1
TEXT 'Welcome'
TAG main
TAG section CLASS 'card'
TAG h2 CLASS 'name'
TEXT 'Jane Doe'
TAG p DATA-INFO 'safe'
TEXT 'Front-end developer'
TAG a HREF './contact.html' REL 'noopener'
TEXT 'Contact'
TAG img SRC './assets/img/avatar.png' ALT 'Profile photo' WIDTH '120' HEIGHT '120'
Why JML is Safe
- The
TJMLValidatorclass in Ascoos OS stops transformation on any syntax error - Predictable parsing — no “undefined behavior”
- Visual warnings for structural issues
- Independence from browser DOM quirks
JML Studio – Your online JML editor
JML Studio is the online tool for producing JML documents — just like Microsoft Word is the editor for .docx files, JML Studio is the editor for .jml files.
It offers:
- Tabs: Editor · HTML · DSL · AST · HTML to JML
- Export to .jml and .html
- Online preview: JML to HTML conversion in real time
The Vision
JML is not just another language. It is the next markup standard: Clean. Secure. Extensible. Predictable.
With JML, developers won’t waste time debugging quirks. They’ll build on a language that doesn’t betray them.
Conclusion
HTML is dead. Long live JML.
With JML Studio you can start creating and testing JML documents today. But the real power lies in the language itself — the new secure markup for the Web.
** Written by Christos Drogkidis — creator of Ascoos OS and the JML language.