W3C

The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of Challenges with Accessibility Guidelines Conformance and Testing, and Approaches for Mitigating Them. This document explores how testability and page-based conformance verification of the WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 accessibility guidelines are challenging to apply to a broad range of websites and web applications. It also explores approaches for mitigating these challenges, to realize as accessible a site as possible.

W3C announced today the W3C/OGC Joint Workshop Series on Maps for the Web, in September & October, 2020. The event is hosted by Natural Resources Canada.

The workshop will be online only, spread out over a month of video presentations and asynchronous discussion. Attendance is free for all invited participants and is open to the public, whether or not W3C members.

This workshop series brings together experts in geographic standards and Web map data services, Web mapping client tools and applications, and Web platform standards and browser development, to explore the potential of maps for the Web.

Expected topics of discussion include:

• Adding a native map viewer for the Web platform, similar to how HTML <video> was added for video content;
• Standardizing how a browser-based map viewer fetches data from map services and how that data should be formatted;
• Creating accessible Web map experiences that adapt to the different ways people interact with the Web;
• Creating truly global Web map experiences that work with different languages and cartographic practices;
• Limiting privacy and security impacts of a more geo-enhanced Web.

For more information on the workshop, please see details and submission instructions. Expression of Interest and position statements are due by 30 June 2020 and registration applications accepted until 31 August 2020.

The CSS Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of CSS Box Model Module Level 4. This specification describes the margin and padding properties, which create spacing in and around a CSS box. It may later be extended to include borders (currently described in [css-backgrounds-3]).

CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, etc.

The Web of Things Working Group has published Web of Things (WoT) Architecture and Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description as W3C Recommendations, thus enabling easy integration across Internet of Things platforms and applications. The WoT Architecture specification describes the abstract architecture for the W3C Web of Things, while the WoT Thing Description describes the metadata and interfaces of Things, where a Thing is an abstraction of a physical or virtual entity that provides interactions to and participates in the Web of Things.

These solutions are already deployed in products today. The Web of Things is applicable to multiple IoT domains, including Smart Home, Industrial, Smart City, Retail, and Health applications, where usage of the W3C WoT standards can simplify the development of IoT systems that combine devices from multiple vendors and ecosystems. Please read more in our Press Release.

W3C has republished a Candidate Recommendation of Time Ontology in OWL. OWL-Time is an OWL-2 DL ontology of temporal concepts, for describing the temporal properties of resources in the world or described in Web pages. The ontology provides a vocabulary for expressing facts about topological (ordering) relations among instants and intervals, together with information about durations, and about temporal position including date-time information. Time positions and durations may be expressed using either the conventional (Gregorian) calendar and clock, or using another temporal reference system such as Unix-time, geologic time, or different calendars.

2020-03-25 Update: W3C Management resolved to renew and extend until July 15, 2020 the interim W3C Team travel policy and the guidance to not hold in-person meetings of W3C Groups.

Effective immediately and through 15 May July 15, 2020:

• The W3C Team travel policy prescribes that all international travel is suspended and staff are urged to consider the importance of any domestic travel before agreeing to domestic travel other than commuting. Remote teleconferencing is recommended in place of travel.
• W3C Management also recommends that all W3C groups not hold physical face-to-face meetings and should instead plan virtual equivalents.
• W3M plans on updating the guidance as conditions continue to evolve.

To that effect the W3C Team has published a first version of: Continuity of Operations under Travel Restrictions.

With travel restrictions, the world relies even more on online interaction and the World Wide Web is a crucial part of the human society.

Our primary concern is individual and community health. Slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus improves the chances that health systems will have the capacity to continue to treat usual health issues plus those affected.

• Individual and community health: take care of yourselves and those around you. Even if an individual is not personally at-risk, COVID-19 may be contagious before symptoms appear.
• Unpredictability of border measures and quarantines: international travelers risk getting caught far from home or facing quarantine.
• Unpredictability of meeting plans: many conferences are being canceled, and many localities are canceling large gatherings.