The Rich Web Clients Activity contains the work within W3C on Web Applications and Compound Document Formats.
With the ubiquity of Web browsers and Web document formats across a range of platforms and devices, many developers are using the Web as an application environment. Examples of applications built on rich Web clients include reservation systems, online shopping or auction sites, games, multimedia applications, calendars, maps, chat applications, weather displays, clocks, interactive design applications, stock tickers, currency converters and data entry/display systems.
Web client applications typically have some form of programmatic control. They may run within the browser or within another host application. A Web client application is typically downloaded on demand each time it is "executed," allowing a developer to update the application for all users as needed. Such applications are usually smaller than regular desktop applications in terms of code size and functionality, and may have interactive rich graphical interfaces.
"Compound document" is the W3C term for a document that combines multiple formats, such as XHTML, SVG, SMIL and XForms. The W3C Compound Document Formats (CDF) Working Group is specifying the behavior of some format combinations, addressing the needs for an extensible and interoperable Web.
"Web API" means the assorted scripting methods that are used to build rich Web applications, mashups, Web 2.0 sites. Standardizing them improves interoperability and reduces site development costs.
"Web Application Formats" means a variety of things from XBL for skinning applications to Widgets for deploying small Web applications outside the browser.
The CDF Working Group published a comprehensive test suite and implementation report for Candidate Recommendations of the CDR Framework and WICD specifications. Early implementations of both CDF user agents and CDF authoring tools have appeared in the marketplace. Drafts of the second work package, Compound Documents by Inclusion (CDI, i.e. mixed namespace documents) are in preparation. The group maintains a roadmap with a schedule for all its deliverables.
The Web Application Formats Working Group published a new Working Draft of the Widgets Specification in October 2007, to define a framework for deploying Web applications on the desktop. Enabling Read Access for Web Resources, published as a Last Call Working Draft in February 2007, defines a mechanism to selectively provide client side cross-site access to a Web resource.
The WebAPI Working Group published sevearl new drafts of specifications.
They released a new Working Draft of The XMLHttpRequest Object in October 2007. The core component of AJAX, the XMLHttpRequest object is an interface that allows scripts to perform HTTP client functions, such as submitting form data or loading data from a remote Web site.
This was followed in February 2008 by the First Public Working Draft of a new XMLHttpRequest Level 2 Specification being developed concurrently, which in combination with the Access Control specification from WAF extends the XHR object to allow for cross-site scripting.
Also published in October 2007 was a Working Draft of the Progress Events specification, which exposes upload and download progress information.
An updated Working Draft of the eagerly awaited Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification was published in December 2007. This specification will provide a consistent model for keyboard events, the lack of which causes considerable trouble for Web developers, as well as other event types such as the mouse wheel and mobile-specific concerns.
A Last Call Working Draft of the Selectors API Specification was published in December 2007. This specification defines and interface for advanced selection of elements by detailed criteria.
Element Traversal entered into a Last Call Working Draft in March 2008, and is already implemented, indicating a short CR phase. This is a simple and lightweight interface for navigating only among Element nodes and ignoring extraneous whitespace.
Finally, a new Working Draft of the Language Bindings for DOM Specifications was published in April 2008, which will provide specification authors a comprehensive cross-language interface description, obviating the need to define multiple bindings for each specification and improving design interoperability.
First public drafts of Compound Documents by Inclusion (CDI), are expected to be published in the coming months. The CDF Working Group liaises closely with OMA, having attended a number of OMA meetings, and with W3C Working Groups such as CSS, XHTML2, SMIL, SVG and XForms.
A new group, the Web Applications Working Group, is planned to merge and replace the Web Application Formats and the Web API Working Groups, in order to maximize Team and Member resources, and will continue to develop their existing deliverables, as well as add selected new deliverables relevant to market needs.
| Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compound Document Formats Working Group (participants) | Kevin Kelly | Doug Schepers | Chartered until 31 May 2008 |
| Web API Working Group (participants) | Charles McCathieNevile | Doug Schepers | Chartered until 31 May 2008 |
| Web Application Formats Working Group (participants) | Arthur Barstow | Michael(tm) Smith | Chartered until 31 May 2008 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for the April 2008 W3C Advisory Committee Meeting (Members only) per section 5 of the W3C Process Document. Generated from group data.
Chris Lilley, Rich Web Clients Activity Lead
$Id: Activity.html,v 1.53 2008/04/16 14:25:35 ted Exp $