Table of contents: The W3C Technology Stack |
To achieve the goal of one Web, specifications for the Web's formats and protocols must be compatible with one another and allow (any) hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C designs and promotes interoperable open (non-proprietary) formats and protocols to avoid the market fragmentation of the past.
Since 1994, W3C has produced more than ninety Web standards, called "W3C Recommendations." A W3C Recommendation is the equivalent of a Web standard, indicating that this W3C-developed specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor its adoption by the industry. The W3C translations page lists the technical reports that have been translated into languages other than English and explains how to contribute a translation to W3C.
The Web is an application built on top of the Internet
This illustration (larger version, description) shows one view of Web infrastructure, the focus of most work at W3C. The foundation of URIs, HTTP, XML, and RDF supports pursuits in five areas. Themes of accessibility, internationalization, device independence, mobile access and quality assurance pervade W3C technologies.
W3C is transforming the architecture of the initial Web (essentially HTML, URIs, and HTTP) into the architecture of tomorrow's Web.
W3C's technologies will help make the future Web a robust, scalable, and adaptive infrastructure for a world of information. To understand how W3C pursues this mission, it is useful to understand the driving design principles of the Web. For a detailed discussion of Web design principles, please see W3C's Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume I.
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Technology stack graphic: Ivan Herman
