W3C News

W3C Demonstrates Power of Open Web Platform at Mobile World Congress 2012

2012-02-08T15:03:00Z

W3C invites media, analysts, and other attendees of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 to meet with W3C and learn how the Open Web Platform is transforming industry. From 27 February through 1 March W3C will showcase demonstrations of HTML5, CSS3, and other open Web technologies at its booth in Hall 2, Stand 2A31. CEO Jeff Jaffe, W3C staff, and some W3C Members will be available as expert resources for media stories and analyst reports on how the Web is changing mobile, television, advertising, games, publishing, automotive, health care, and other industries. Read the media advisory and learn more about W3C @ MWC 2012.

W3C Launches New Markup Validation Service

2012-02-08T10:47:39Z

The W3C has launched the Nu Markup Validation Service, a non-DTD-based markup validator being made available to the community in parallel to the existing DTD-based validator.w3.org W3C markup validator. The W3C Nu Markup Validation Service uses the same backend as the Validator.nu site, which is also the backend for the HTML5-checking feature of validator.w3.org. The Nu Markup Validation Service is a separate, standalone validator which provides that same HTML5-checking feature while also offering a user interface that exposes additional options, such as full validation support for XHTML5 documents, and the ability to validate documents that contain features from RDFa Core 1.1 and from RDFa Lite 1.1.

Widget Access Request Policy is a W3C Recommendation

2012-02-07T15:01:55Z

The Web Applications Working Group has published a W3C Recommendation of Widget Access Request Policy. This specification defines the security model controlling network access from within a widget, as well as a method for authors to request that the user agent grant access to certain network resources or sets thereof. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

CSS Positioned Layout Module Level 3 Draft Published

2012-02-07T14:57:39Z

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of CSS Positioned Layout Module Level 3. CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, in speech, etc. This module contains the features of CSS level 3 relating to positioning and stacking of elements. It includes and extends the functionality of CSS level 2, which builds on CSS level 1. The main extensions compared to level 2 are the ability to position elements based on CSS Region boxes, and the ability to specify a different containing blocks for elements. Learn more about the Style Activity.

Last Call: Web IDL

2012-02-07T14:54:39Z

The Web Applications Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of Web IDL. This document defines an interface definition language, Web IDL, that can be used to describe interfaces that are intended to be implemented in web browsers. Web IDL is an IDL variant with a number of features that allow the behavior of common script objects in the web platform to be specified more readily. How interfaces described with Web IDL correspond to constructs within ECMAScript execution environments is also detailed in this document. It is expected that this document acts as a guide to implementors of already-published specifications, and that newly published specifications reference this document to ensure conforming implementations of interfaces are interoperable. Comments are welcome through 28 February. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

Java language binding for Web IDL Draft Published

2012-02-07T14:50:12Z

The Web Applications Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Java language binding for Web IDL. This document defines the Java language binding for Web IDL, the interface definition language for the Web platform. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

W3C Introduces Startup Level for Membership

2012-02-03T18:25:49Z

To increase and broaden participation in its activities, W3C announces today a new startup membership level for small organizations new to W3C. Organizations are eligible for the new level depending on their size (10 or fewer employees) and annual revenues. This new level is available for the first two years of Membership. Please see the startup level description for details and more information about eligibility. Please contact membership@w3.org if you have any questions.

Last Call: Vibration API

2012-02-02T14:34:34Z

The Device APIs Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of Vibration API. This specification defines an API that provides access to the vibration mechanism of the hosting device. Vibration is a form of tactile feedback. The API is designed to tackle high-value use cases related to gaming, and is not meant to be used as a generic notification mechanism. Comments are welcome through 01 March. Learn more about the Ubiquitous Web Applications Activity.

The PROV Data Model and Abstract Syntax Notation Draft Published

2012-02-02T14:29:17Z

The Provenance Working Group has published a Working Draft of The PROV Data Model and Abstract Syntax Notation. PROV-DM is a data model for provenance for building representations of the entities, people and activities involved in producing a piece of data or thing in the world. PROV-DM is domain-agnostic, but is equipped with extensibility points allowing further domain-specific and application-specific extensions to be defined. PROV-DM is accompanied by PROV-ASN, a technology-independent abstract syntax notation, which allows serializations of PROV-DM instances to be created for human consumption, which facilitates its mapping to concrete syntax, and which is used as the basis for a formal semantics. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

BAD to Good Updated: Demo shows web accessibility barriers fixed

2012-01-31T20:24:15Z

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) has updated the Before and After Demonstration (BAD). BAD shows an inaccessible website and a retrofitted version of the same website with the accessibility barriers fixed. Read the update e-mail and learn about Accessibility.

Internet Society Board Approves Donation to Support W3C Stewardship of Open Web Platform

2012-01-31T19:20:22Z

In its continuing efforts to foster an open Internet ecosystem, the Internet Society today announced a 1M USD donation to the World Wide Web Consortium. This donation, the final installment of the Internet Society’s 2009 pledge of 2.5M USD over three years, supports the continued evolution of W3C as an organization that creates open Web standards.

“The W3C is emblematic of the inclusive, multistakeholder approach that is critical to the continued development, operation, and use of the open, global Internet,” said Raúl Echeberría, Chair of the Internet Society Board of Trustees. “We look forward to continued cooperation between the W3C and the Internet Society to advance our shared values through independent voices.” Read the press release and ISOC and W3C FAQ.

Three Last Call Working Drafts published by the RDF Web Applications Working Group

2012-01-31T15:05:00Z

The RDF Web Applications Working Group has published three Last Call Working Drafts today:

Together, these documents outline the vision for RDFa in a variety of XML and HTML-based Web markup languages. RDFa Core 1.1 specifies the core syntax and processing rules for RDFa 1.1 and how the language is intended to be used in XML documents. RDFa Lite 1.1 provides a simple subset of RDFa for novice Web authors. XHTML+RDFa 1.1 specifies the usage of RDFa in the XHTML markup language.

A number of improvements have been made to RDFa 1.1 over the past year by working closely with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and the other search engine developers. Public review and comments have resulted in a number of further refinements to the language that eases the learning curve for beginner Web authors.

The release of these documents as Last Call Working Drafts is a signal to the public that the Working Group believes that all of the technical requirements, public comments and reported issues have been addressed. It is also an open invitation to the general public to review and provide feedback on the finalization of this technology via the RDF Web Applications Working Group mailing list, by 21 February. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

W3C Launches Patent Advisory Group for Touch Events Specification

2012-01-30T23:50:04Z

In accordance with the W3C Patent Policy, W3C has launched a Patent Advisory Group (PAG) in response to disclosures related to the Touch Events version 1 Specification. The Web Events Working Group develops this specification. W3C launches a PAG to resolve issues in the event a patent has been disclosed that may be essential, but is not available under the W3C Royalty-Free licensing requirements. Public comments regarding these disclosures may be sent to public-te-pag@w3.org (with public archive). Learn more about Patent Advisory Groups.

Workshop Report: Data and Services Integration

2012-01-26T17:20:32Z

W3C today published the report of the Workshop on Data and Services Integration, hosted on 20-21 October 2011 by MITRE in Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. This workshop provided a way for the community to meet and discuss some of the challenges of integration of heterogeneous data and services. With the emergence of the Web, the need for reusing data and services has become even stronger as the number of available services has grown. Different services stacks now exist from Web Services to Cloud-based services. One goal of this workshop was to figure out the needs in the domain of integration that would benefit from standardization, or where discussion via Community or Business Groups could gather a critical mass.

The participants came to the conclusion that solutions to the data integration issues can be the result of better integration of tools helping going cross-stacks. They also discussed how to architect RESTful services in the enterprise, with a plan to create a group to work on Linked Data Patterns, specifically REST-based patterns on RDF and other formats.

Incubator Group Report: Media Analysis Management Interface

2012-01-25T13:34:34Z

The Media Analysis Management Interface Incubator Group published its final report, Media Analysis Management Interface XG Final Report. The Media Analysis Management Interface (MAMI) enables the understanding of the real world at a low cost by using analysis engines such as video image processing engines, sensor data analysis engines, and so on. It also enables various services to be easily provided, such as physical security, environmental load reduction, and intelligent accessibility services. The MAMI Incubator Group described the requirements of the MAMI and six use cases in three fields: energy saving, video surveillance, and operational improvement. The Incubator Group expects to collaborate with other W3C working groups, in particular the Multimodal Interaction Working Group.

This publication is part of the Incubator Activity. This work is not on the W3C standards track.