Public Newsletter

Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 3.0 Requirements

2008-08-08: The Voice Browser Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 3.0 Requirements. VoiceXML 2.0 is designed for creating audio dialogs that feature synthesized speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken and DTMF key input, recording of spoken input, telephony, and mixed initiative conversations. VoiceXML 3.0 is the next major release of VoiceXML. Its purpose is to provide even more powerful dialog capabilities that can be used to build advanced speech applications and to provide these capabilities in a form that can be easily and cleanly integrated with other W3C languages. Learn more about the Voice Browser Activity. (Permalink)

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) Working Draft Published

2008-08-06: The Protocols and Formats Working Group published an updated Working Draft of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA). WAI-ARIA defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. WAI-ARIA is introduced in the WAI-ARIA Overview and the WAI-ARIA FAQ. Read the updated WAI-ARIA Specification announcement that requests feedback on host language embedding, and about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (Permalink)

W3C Invites Implementations of XQuery Update Facility 1.0 (Candidate Recommendation)

2008-08-07: The XML Query Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of XQuery Update Facility 1.0. This document defines an update facility that extends the XML Query language, XQuery. The XQuery Update Facility provides expressions that can be used to make persistent changes to instances of the XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model. This document incorporates changes made against the Candidate Recommendation of 14 March 2008. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Invites Implementations of CSS Mobile Profile 2.0 (Candidate Recommendation)

2008-08-01: The CSS Working Group has published a Candidate Recommendation for CSS Mobile Profile 2.0., which defines a common baseline of CSS support that even constrained mobile devices can provide. This effort is part of W3C's ongoing efforts to make the Web easier to use from a mobile devices (see related news). For the CSS Mobile Profile 2.0, W3C has worked closely together with OMA to remove the differences between W3C's and OMA's previous CSS-mobile profiles. An "alpha" quality test suite is available for the mobile profile. The Working Group will track implementations during the Candidate Recommendation phase. Implementers are invited to send feedback before February 2009. Learn more about the Style Activity. (Permalink)

Last Call: CSS Marquee Module Level 3

2008-08-01: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of CSS Marquee Module Level 3. CSS describes the rendering of documents on various media. When documents (e.g., HTML) are laid out on visual media (e.g., screen or print) and the contents of some element are too large for a given area, CSS allows the designer to specify whether and how the overflow is displayed. One way, available on certain devices, is the "marquee" effect: the content is animated and moves automatically back and forth. This module defines the properties to control that effect. Comments are welcome through 01 September. Learn more about the Style Activity. (Permalink)

Last Call: Content Transformation Guidelines 1.0

2008-08-01: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of Content Transformation Guidelines 1.0. Content Transformation is the manipulation in various ways, by proxies, of requests made to and content delivered by an origin server with a view to making it more suitable for mobile presentation. The overall objective of this document is to provide a means, as far as is practical, for users to be provided with at least a "functional user experience" when accessing the Web with a mobile device. Comments are welcome through 16 September. Learn more about the Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Six RIF Working Drafts Published; Last Call for Basic Logic Dialect and RDF-OWL

2008-08-01: The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group published six documents yesterday:

• RIF Basic Logic Dialect (Last Call)
• RIF RDF and OWL Compatibility (Last Call)
• RIF Framework for Logic Dialects
• RIF Use Cases and Requirements
• RIF Production Rule Dialect (First Public Draft)
• RIF Datatypes and Built-Ins 1.0

"RIF Basic Logic Dialect" (BLD) specifies an XML format for rules at an intermediate expressive power. The language is roughly Horn rules with URIs, datatypes, and builtins. This goes beyond datalog (it has function terms), but does not provide any kind of negation. "RIF RDF and OWL Compatibility" explains and specifies how RIF rulesets are to be used in combination with RDF and OWL. Comments on these documents welcome until 19 September. In addition, RIF Production Rule Dialect (PRD) specifies an XML format for the exchange of production rules. PRD and BLD are expected to be the basis of the two main dialect-branches, with RIF Core being the things in common between the two. RIF Framework for Logic Dialects (FLD) and RIF Datatypes and Builtins (DTB) provide common elements for specific dialects to use. RIF Uses Cases and Requirements (UCR), last published about two years ago, has been simplified and now has examples written in the PRD and BLD presentation syntaxes. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Organizes Workshop on Semantic Web in Energy Industries; Part I to Focus on Oil and Gas

2008-07-31: W3C invites people to participate in a Workshop on Semantic Web in Energy Industries; Part I: Oil & Gas to be hosted by Chevron in Houston, Texas, USA on 9-10 December 2008. Participants will explore how Semantic Web technologies can play a role in the management and analysis of the huge amounts of data gathered from highly diverse sources in this sector of the energy industry. Position papers are due 19 September. W3C invites you to read more about the Workshop goals and learn about the W3C Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)

Stable Version of Compatibility Test for Mobile Browsers Released

2008-07-30: The Mobile Web Test Suites Working Group has released a new and stable version of its Web Compatibility Test for Mobile Browsers, featuring more technologies and several improvements over the previous version. Read more about the design of the test and learn more about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Two Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Drafts Published: Format 1.0; Evaluation

2008-07-28: The Efficient XML Interchange Working Group published two Working Drafts today: Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0 and Efficient XML Interchange Evaluation. The former specifies the Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) format. EXI is a very compact representation for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Information Set that is intended to simultaneously optimize performance and the utilization of computational resources. The EXI format uses a hybrid approach drawn from the information and formal language theories, plus practical techniques verified by measurements, for entropy encoding XML information. Using a relatively simple algorithm, which is amenable to fast and compact implementation, and a small set of data types, it reliably produces efficient encodings of XML event streams. The latter document, a first public draft, is an evaluation of the Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0 with reference to the Properties identified by the (now closed) XML Binary Characterization (XBC) Working Group, relative to XML, gzipped XML and ASN.1 PER. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity. (Permalink)