Web for All

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.

Recognizing the importance of an open forum for the development of the predominant Web content technology, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) invited browser vendors, application developers, and content designers to help design the next version of HTML (HTML 5) by participating in the new W3C HTML Working Group. Based on significant input from the design and developer communities within and outside the W3C membership, W3C has chartered the group to conduct its work in public and to solicit broad participation from W3C members and non-members alike.

Effective September 13, 2007, 20:11 UTC, Shefik joins the HTML Working Group as an Invited Expert. A resident of New York, USA, Shefik is the owner of the Web development firm, All Knight Access. There are three qualities an individual is expected to demonstrate in order to participate in W3C: Technical competence in one's role, the ability to act fairly, and social competence in one's role. For more information on All Knight Access, visit www.allknightaccess.com.

The HTML Working Group is currently chaired by both Chris Wilson (Microsoft) and Dan Connolly (W3C/MIT). As of this writing, the group has 485 participants, all of which are in good standing. Also, all participants have made certain licensing commitments by joining the group, and the group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (5 February 2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue recommendations that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a royalty-free basis. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group.

Among the participants of the HTML Working Group, 419 are Invited Experts and 66 are from 25 organizations (inclusive of Google, Apple, AOL, IBM, Cisco, Mozilla Foundation, and Nokia). The group is scheduled to release the First Working Draft of the HTML 5 spec in the fourth quarter of 2007, a Last Call Working Draft in the second quarter of 2008, a Candidate Recommendation in the third quarter of 2008, a Proposed Recommendation in the second quarter of 2010, and a Recommendation in the third quarter of 2010. The HTML Working Group schedule is an estimate, based on the schedule in the charter, and it is subject to change. For more information on group participation, visit www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/40318/status.

"HTML started simply, with structured markup, no licensing requirements, and the ability to link to anything. More than anything, this simplicity and openness has led to its tremendous and continued success," explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of HTML. "It's time to revisit the standard and see what we can do to meet the current community needs, and to do so effectively with commitments from browser manufacturers in a visible and open way."

After the publication of HTML 4, and following a 1998 Workshop, W3C set forth to turn HTML into an XML-based format, called XHTML, due to the benefits of XML formats. The first full XHTML Recommendation was issued in early 2000. But, due to the significant legacy of Web content that is some variant of HTML, traditional browser vendors moved slowly to adopt XHTML. This, in turn, has meant little motivation for content developers to adopt XHTML for the traditional desktop environment. Leaders in the Web developer and design communities therefore urged W3C to renew its commitment to HTML by adding new features (starting with the HTML 4 standard) in a manner that is consistent with community practice and backward compatible. W3C will help ensure interoperability by making robust test suites and validation services available to the community for future technologies.

W3C is pleased to relaunch work on HTML with strong support from its members and more staff resources (including people and hardware). W3C has tailored the HTML Working Group Charter to enable active participation from browser vendors, applications designers, and content developers, whose joint participation is key to the success of the future HTML.

XHTML has proved valuable in other markets, including the market for mobile devices, in enterprise applications, on the server-side, and in an increasing number of Web applications such as blogging software. For example, the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has included XHTML Basic as a cornerstone of the Mobile Web Best Practices because software running in less memory can support it. The markets for XML content are significant and growing, so W3C will define an XML syntax for the new HTML in addition to the classic HTML syntax.

One of the design aims for XHTML 2.0 has been to keep it as generic as possible, reusing applicable XML standards, including XForms, XML Base, and XML Events, instead of HTML features that served similar purposes. Those design choices have led to XHTML 2.0 having an identity distinct from HTML. With the chartering of the XHTML 2 Working Group, W3C will continue its technical work on the language at the same time it considers rebranding the technology to clarify its independence and value in the marketplace.

In addition to the new HTML and XHTML 2 Working Groups, W3C is also pleased to recharter the Hypertext Coordination Group and charter the Forms Working Group. The Forms Working Group will continue work on the XForms architecture, which has seen significant adoption in a variety of platforms.

About World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, and Keio University in Japan, and has additional offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.w3.org.