▁a ▁web ▁application . ▁▁ ▁While ▁parsing ▁coding ▁comments , ▁Ham l ▁uses ▁the ▁same ▁rules ▁as ▁Ruby ▁ 1 . 9 ▁or ▁later . ▁Ham l ▁understand s ▁only ▁ASCII ▁compatible ▁enc od ings ▁like ▁UTF - 8 ▁but ▁not ▁UTF - 1 6 ▁or ▁UTF - 3 2 ▁because ▁these ▁are ▁not ▁compatible ▁with ▁ASCII . ▁▁ ▁Ham l ▁can ▁be ▁used ▁in ▁command ▁line , ▁as ▁a ▁separate ▁Ruby ▁module , ▁or ▁in ▁a ▁Ruby ▁on ▁Rails ▁application ▁making ▁Ham l ▁suitable ▁for ▁a ▁wide ▁range ▁of ▁applications . ▁ ▁History ▁Ham l ▁was ▁originally ▁introduced ▁by ▁Ham pton ▁Cat lin ▁with ▁its ▁initial ▁release ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 6 ▁and ▁his ▁work ▁was ▁taken ▁ahead ▁by ▁a ▁few ▁other ▁people . ▁His ▁mot ive ▁was ▁to ▁make ▁HTML ▁simpler , ▁cleaner ▁and ▁easier ▁to ▁use . ▁Since ▁ 2 0 0 6 , ▁it ▁has ▁been ▁re vised ▁several ▁times ▁and ▁newer ▁versions ▁were ▁released . ▁Until ▁ 2 0 1 2 ▁Natal ie ▁We izen baum ▁was ▁the ▁primary ▁maintain er ▁of ▁Ham l , ▁followed ▁by ▁Norman ▁Clar ke ▁until ▁ 2 0 1 5 . ▁ ▁Natal ie ▁worked ▁on ▁making ▁Ham l ▁us able ▁in ▁Ruby ▁applications , ▁while ▁the ▁brand ing ▁and ▁design ▁was ▁done ▁by ▁Nick ▁Wal sh . ▁O thers ▁who ▁are ▁currently ▁in ▁the ▁maintenance ▁team ▁are ▁Matt ▁Wild ig , ▁A ki ra ▁M ats uda , ▁Te e ▁Par ham ▁and ▁Tak ashi ▁K ok ub un .