The Origin of the IMG Tag.

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, was hesitant too. He suggested that Andreessen instead use the anchor tag to display inline images instead of creating something entirely new. This would allow users to set their own preferences for how images should be handled. He saw the web as a customizable experience, and envisioned a world where users would tinker with their browsers to display webpages based on personal preferences. A rigid img tag ran against that vision. (…) As it turns out, Andreessen’s email was less of a suggestion and more a simple announcement. Bina and Andreessen had already planned on including the img tag in their release, and had no plans on changing syntax or support. Inline images were a top priority for the browser, and nothing was going to change that.