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XML is Ten!2008-02-12:Ten years ago, on 10 February 1998, W3C published Extensible Markup Language (XML)1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. W3C is marking the ten-yearanniversary of XML by celebrating "XML10" andextending thanks to the dedicated communities -- including people who haveparticipated in W3C's XML groups and mailing lists, the SGML community, andxml-dev -- whose efforts have created a successful family of technologiesbased on the solid XML 1.0 foundation. The success of XML is a strongindicator of how dedicated individuals, working within the W3C Process, canengage with a larger community to produce industry-changing results. "Todaywe celebrate the success of open standards in preserving Web data fromproprietary ownership," said Jon Bosak, who led the W3C Working Group thatproduced XML 1.0. Read the pressrelease and testimonials.Send W3C a greeting and learnmore about XML at W3C. (Permalink)
Note: Best Practices for XMLInternationalization
2008-02-13: The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) WorkingGroup has published a Group Note of Best Practices for XMLInternationalization. This document provides a set of guidelines fordeveloping XML documents and schemas that are internationalized properly.Following the best practices describes here allow both the developer of XMLapplications, as well as the author of XML content to create material indifferent languages. Learn more about the Internationalization Activity. (Permalink)
W3C mobileOK Checker "Beta" Released forMobile World Congress
2008-02-08: W3C invites Web content authors to run thebeta release of the W3C mobileOKchecker and make their content work on a broad range of mobile devices.This new version provides more accurate results and a more reliableexperience. Visitors of the Mobile World Congress (inBarcelona, starting Monday, 11 February) are welcome to stop by the W3C Mobile Web Initiativebooth (in Hall 7) to learn more about this tool for making Web sitesmobile-friendly. (Permalink)
Call for Review: Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition)Proposed Edited Recommendation
2008-02-06:The XML Core Working Group has published theProposed Edited Recommendation of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0(Fifth Edition). This revision of XML 1.0 incorporates all known errata for XML 1.0 Fourth Edition;see the diff-marked specification for changes. This version of the XML 1.0specification contains one major change, to the definition of names,bringing one major benefit of XML 1.1 into XML 1.0; please read the background forthis change as part of any review. Comments are welcome through 16 May.Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML)Activity. (Permalink)
WAI-ARIA for Accessible Rich Web Applications: FirstPublic Working Drafts
2008-02-04: The Protocols and Formats Working Group published FirstPublic Working Drafts of:
- Accessible RichInternet Applications (WAI-ARIA) Version 1.0 combines the twopreviously-published ARIA draft specifications: WAI-ARIA Roles, andWAI-ARIA States and Properties.
- WAI-ARIAPrimer provides background on accessibility issues related toJavaScript, and introduces the technical approach used in WAI-ARIA.
- WAI-ARIABest Practices describes how Web content developers can developaccessible rich Web applications using WAI-ARIA.
WAI-ARIAdefines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible topeople with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content andadvanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, andrelated technologies. An updated WAI-ARIARoadmap was also published.
Additionally, the Education and Outreach Working Group published a new WAI-ARIA FAQ and updated WAI-ARIA Overview. Read the Callfor Review: New WAI-ARIA Documents announcement and about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (Permalink)
W3C Talks in February
2008-02-01: Browse W3C presentationsand events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)
- 4 February, New Delhi, India:Web Accessibility: International Standardsfor Local Users.Shadi Abou-Zahra gives a keynote at Techshare India2008.
- 5 February, Tokyo, Japan:HTML 5.Michael(tm)Smith presents at Jagat.
- 11 February, Wellington, NewZealand: Achieving Web for All: Improvingthe Accessibility, Usability, and Quality of Your Website.Shawn Henry gives a tutorialat Webstock 2008.
View upcomingtalks by country- More talks...
Toward More Transparent Government: Workshop Report on eGovernment andthe Web
2008-01-31: W3C has published a Workshop Report: eGovernment and the Web Workshop: "TowardMore Transparent Government". Participants discussed ways to facilitatethe deployment of Web standards across government sites and how to shapethe ongoing research agenda in the development of Web technology and publicpolicy in order to realize the potential of the Web for access to and useof government information. Held 18-19 June (press release), in Washington D.C.,USA, the Workshop was jointlyorganized by W3C and WSRI. Learn more abouteGovernment at W3C. (Permalink)
Call for Review: Canonical XML 1.1Proposed Recommendation
2008-01-29: The XML Core Working Group has published the ProposedRecommendation of Canonical XML1.1. The specification establishes a method for determining whether twodocuments are identical, or whether an application has not changed adocument, except for transformations permitted by XML 1.0 and Namespaces inXML. Canonical XML 1.1 is a revision to Canonical XML 1.0 designed toaddress issues related to inheritance of attributes in the XML namespacewhen canonicalizing document subsets, including the requirement not toinherit xml:id, and to treat xml:base URI pathprocessing properly. Comments are welcome through 07 March. Learn moreabout W3C's XML Activity. (Permalink)
Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDFVocabularies
2008-01-29: The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group haspublished the Working Draft of Best Practice Recipes forPublishing RDF Vocabularies. This document describes best practicerecipes for publishing vocabularies or ontologies on the Web (in RDF Schema or OWL). Each recipe introduces generalprinciples and an example configuration for use with an Apache HTTP server(which may be adapted to other environments). The recipes are all designedto be consistent with the architecture of the Web as currently specified.Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization SystemReference (First Public Working Draft)
2008-01-25: The Semantic WebDeployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draftof SKOS Simple KnowledgeOrganization System Reference. This document defines the SimpleKnowledge Organization System (SKOS), a common data model for sharing andlinking knowledge organization systems via the Semantic Web. SKOS providesa standard, low-cost means to describe the semantic relationships betweenexisting knowledge systems and to port those systems to the Semantic Web.SKOS also provides a lightweight, intuitive language for developing andsharing new knowledge organization systems. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of WebContent
2008-01-22: W3C today published anearly draft of HTML 5, a majorrevision of the markup language for the Web. The HTMLWorking Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-freespecification for rich Web content and Web applications. "HTML is of coursea very important standard," said Tim Berners-Lee, author of the firstversion of HTML and W3C Director. "I am glad to see that the community ofdevelopers, including browser vendors, is working together to create thebest possible path for the Web." New features include APIs for drawingtwo-dimensional graphics and ways to embed and control audio and videocontent. HTML 5 helps to improve interoperability and reduce software costsby giving precise rules not only about how to handle all correct HTMLdocuments but also how to recover from errors. Discover other new features, readthe press release, and learn moreabout the future of HTML. (Permalink)
Relationship Between Mobile Web and Web ContentAccessibility (First Public Working Draft)
2008-01-22: The Mobile WebBest Practices Working Group and the WAI Education and OutreachWorking Group have published the First Public Working Draft of Relationship Between Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. See the announcementemail.
The groups encourage people to start by reading Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a WebSite Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for MobileDevices, which shows how design goals for accessibility and mobileaccess overlap. A third document, Experiences Shared by People withDisabilities and by People Using Mobile Devices, provides examples ofbarriers that people (without disabilities) face when interacting with Webcontent via mobile devices, and similar barriers for people withdisabilities using desktop computers. Learn more about the Mobile Web Initiative and the WebAccessibility Initiative (WAI). (Permalink)
W3C Advisory Committee Elects TAG Participants
2008-01-22: The W3C Advisory Committee has electedAshok Malhotra (Oracle), T.V. Raman (Google), and Henry Thompson(University of Edinburgh) to the W3C TechnicalArchitecture Group (TAG). Continuing TAG participants are NoahMendelsohn (IBM), David Orchard (BEA), Jonathan Rees (Science Commons),Norm Walsh (Sun), and Stuart Williams (HP), who co-Chairs the TAG with TimBerners-Lee. The missionof the TAG is to build consensus around principles of Web architecture andto interpret and clarify these principles when necessary, to resolve issuesinvolving general Web architecture brought to the TAG, and to helpcoordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outsideW3C. (Permalink)
SPARQL Standard Opens Data on theWeb
2008-01-15: Today, the World Wide WebConsortium made it easier to share and reuse data across application,enterprise, and community boundaries with the publication of three newSemantic Web standards for SPARQL(pronounced "sparkle"). SPARQL is the query language for the Semantic Web(see Semantic Web use cases).SPARQL queries hide the details of data management, which lowers costs andincreases robustness of data integration on the Web. "Trying to use theSemantic Web without SPARQL is like trying to use a relational databasewithout SQL," explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. There are already 14 implementations of thestandard, which is comprised of three W3C Recommendations: SPARQL Query Language for RDF, SPARQL Protocol for RDF, and SPARQL Query Results XML Format. Read thepress release, testimonials and learn more aboutthe Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
W3C Invites Implementations of SMIL 3.0 (CandidateRecommendation)
2008-01-15: The SYMM Working Group has published the CandidateRecommendation of SynchronizedMultimedia Integration Language (SMIL 3.0), an XML-based language thatallows authors to create interactive multimedia presentations. Using SMIL3.0, an author can describe the temporal behavior of a multimediapresentation, associate hyperlinks with media objects and describe thelayout of the presentation on a screen. The Working Group is building a test suite help ensure interoperableimplementation. Learn more about W3C work on Synchronized Multimedia (Permalink)
