{"id":27,"date":"2016-08-19T11:57:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T11:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/schemaorg\/?page_id=27"},"modified":"2016-08-24T15:13:58","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T15:13:58","slug":"work-in-progress-mechanisms-webschemas-and-the-pending-area","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/schemaorg\/how-we-work\/work-in-progress-mechanisms-webschemas-and-the-pending-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Work-in-progress mechanisms: webschemas and the ‘pending’ area"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

This page explains two “how we work” practical mechanisms: webschemas.org and\u00a0the “pending” section.<\/p>\n

Both were adopted in 2016 as part of our efforts to work\u00a0more transparently and more clearly in\u00a0public view, making proposals and changes more accessible\u00a0for collaborators who are not necessarily “project insiders” or computer programmers.\u00a0The process is now more transparent, but also a little more complex.<\/p>\n

If you are in a hurry, all you need to know is that\u00a0the webschemas site is\u00a0the in-progress development draft of the schema.org site, and that both sites have a “pending” section where\u00a0proposals for new vocabulary can be found. If you want the details, read on…<\/em><\/p>\n

In the early days of schema.org, here is how things looked to non-insiders:<\/p>\n

1. mysterious stuff happened, with some email discussions.
\n2. a new official release was officially released at schema.org.<\/p>\n

We have gradually been improving on this.\u00a0Schema.org has a more explicit notion of “work in progress” now – you can see \u00a0everything up to the minute as it is being created, refined and changed. Since\u00a02015 this has been done via the GitHub<\/a> system,\u00a0however Git<\/a> is a complex<\/a> technical system created for programmers to manage software. We wanted to be more inclusive, which meant finding a way\u00a0to share in-progress designs in an easy Web-based way.
\nSchema.org vs webschemas.org and the “pending” section(s) explained<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two sites, the “official” site based around the schema.org<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0domain, but now also a “work in progress” site based at\u00a0webschemas.org<\/a><\/strong>. The official site is updated to a new numbered release\u00a0(e.g. 3.0<\/a>, and 3.1<\/a> recently, we’re working towards<\/a> 3.2) every few weeks.<\/p>\n

The update happens<\/a> with an official sign-off from\u00a0all the members of the\u00a0project steering group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These updates are prepared in full public view using the\u00a0webschemas.org<\/a>\u00a0drafting site, which changes much faster (often several times a\u00a0day). Unlike the official schema.org<\/a>, the contents of webschemas.org<\/a> are only\u00a0approved by the project webmaster<\/a> (currently Dan Brickley). It may contain\u00a0numerous bugfixes that are not yet officially released<\/a>, but it may\u00a0also contain bugs<\/em>, inconsistencies<\/em>, and under-reviewed designs<\/em> that do not have the\u00a0support of the wider community or the steering group.<\/p>\n

That explains the role of “schema.org” (official, updates approved by\u00a0steering group) versus “webschemas.org” (work in progress, updates\u00a0approved by project’s webmaster). To recap:<\/p>\n