RTML
proprietary programming language used exclusively by Yahoo!'s Yahoo! Store and Yahoo! Site web hosting services
RTML is a proprietary programming language used exclusively by Yahoo!'s Yahoo! Store and Yahoo! Site web hosting services.
History
The language originated at Viaweb, a company founded in 1995 by Paul Graham and Robert T. Morris, as the template language for their e-commerce platform. RTML stands for "Robert T. Morris Language". The RTML editor was offered as an option for customers (usually small businesses) who wanted to customize their online stores more than the built-in templates allowed. The built-in templates were also written in RTML, and provided the starting point for most people who used the language.
In 1998, Yahoo! bought Viaweb for $49.6 million and renamed the service Yahoo! Store.
“RTML” enters the record as proprietary programming language used exclusively by Yahoo!'s Yahoo! Store and Yahoo! Site web hosting services. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what RTML, proprietary and programming can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“RTML” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, RTML, proprietary and programming provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7277859. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1995 and 1998.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “RTML”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow RTML primary sources, RTML archive and RTML research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “RTML”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “RTML” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.