The Web Performance Working Group has published Last Call Working Drafts of Performance Timeline and User Timing. The former defines an interface for web applications to access timing information related to navigation and elements. The latter defines an interface to help web developers measure the performance of their applications by giving them access to high precision timestamps. Comments are welcome through 22 September. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group published three drafts today:

• a First Public Working Draft of CSS Conditional Rules Module Level 3, which describes the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, in speech, etc. This module contains the features of CSS for conditional processing of parts of style sheets, conditioned on capabilities of the processor or the document the style sheet is being applied to.
• a draft of CSS Text Level 3, which defines properties for text manipulation and specifies their processing model. It covers line breaking, justification and alignment, white space handling, text decoration and text transformation.
• a draft of CSS Writing Modes Module Level 3, which defines CSS features to support for various international writing modes, such as left-to-right (e.g. Latin or Indic), right-to-left (e.g. Hebrew or Arabic), bidirectional (e.g. mixed Latin and Arabic) and vertical (e.g. Asian scripts).

Learn more about the Style Activity.

W3C today published the final report of the W3C Identity in the Browser workshop, hosted by Mozilla 24-25 May in Mountain View, California. More than 80 representatives from various organizations participated, including major browser developers such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, and Netflix as well as companies wanting a more secure identity mechanism for the Web, such as Workshop sponsors RSA, Paypal, and Yahoo!. The report suggests opportunities for standardization to make the Web a more secure platform, in particular by enabling identity to be built on top of reliable cryptography in the browser. W3C is now developing a draft Working Group charter; contact Harry Halpin if interested.

The XML Security Working Group has published a Working Draft of XML Security RELAX NG Schemas. This document serves to publish RELAX NG schemas for XML Security specifications, including XML Signature 1.0 and 1.1, XML Encryption 1.0 and 1.1, Exclusive Canonicalization, XML Signature Properties, XML-Signature XPath Filter 2.0, and XML Security Generic Hybrid Ciphers. Learn more about the Security Activity.

The RDF Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax. The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a framework for representing information in the Web. This document defines an abstract syntax (a data model) on which RDF is based, and which serves to link concrete syntaxes to its formal semantics. It also includes discussion of key concepts, datatyping, character normalization and handling of IRIs. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

Registration for the second edition of W3C's Mobile Web Online Training Course is open one more week. The acclaimed course begins Monday, 5 September and lasts 8 weeks. Web developers face a number of challenges when designing for the wide array of mobile devices people use today. This course explains how to use Web standards to provide the best experience to the most users: which versions of HTML and CSS are effective in a mobile context, how to overcome various constraints tied to mobile devices, practical client and server-side techniques, what you can do with emerging APIs, and more. The course is developed and taught by the W3C/MobiWebApp team. On successful completion, participants receive a W3C Certificate. Learn more about the Mobile Web Online Training Course.