HTML was an application of SGML, and precedes XML. HTML is a markup language, and not all of the elements and features are semantic in nature. The "span" tag l

HTML was an application of SGML, and precedes XML. HTML is a markup language, and not all of the elements and features are semantic in nature. The "span" tag literally exists to provide a way of affecting a bit of text where no tag with more semantic meaning applies.