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W3C > W3C Home Page News Archive > 2006

Week Ending 25 August

XSL-FO 2.0 Requirements Workshop: Call for Participation

2006-08-22: W3C announces the Workshop on Gathering Requirements for Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) 2.0 to be held 18 October in Heidelberg, Germany, hosted by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. The Workshop will be held in conjunction with a symposium on Web printing at the same location. Participants will discuss the requirements, features and design of a future version of the formatting part of the Extensible Stylesheet Language also called XSL-FO. Read about W3C Workshops and the XML Activity. (Permalink)

Web Forms 2.0: Working Draft

2006-08-21: The Web Application Formats Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Web Forms 2.0. Extending HTML 4, XHTML 1.1 and the DOM, Web Forms 2.0 features include new strongly-typed input fields, attributes, declarative repeating of form sections, DOM interfaces, DOM events, and XML submission and initialization of forms. Web Forms 2.0 leverages the knowledge authors have gained with their experience with HTML. Read about Rich Web Clients. (Permalink)

Web Applications Packaging: Working Draft

2006-08-21: The Web Application Formats Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Web Applications Packaging Format Requirements. The document specifies design goals and requirements for packaging small client-side Web applications known as "widgets", "gadgets" or "modules," used to display and update remote data. Applications such as clocks, stock tickers, news casters, games and weather forecasters are packaged to allow a single download and installation on a client machine. Read about Rich Web Clients. (Permalink)

Mobile Web in Developing Countries: Advance Notice of Workshop

2006-08-21: W3C plans a Workshop on the Mobile Web in Developing Countries on 4-5 December in New Delhi, India, hosted by C-DAC, the site of the W3C India Office. Participants will discuss mobile Web access within developing countries, in terms of needs, blocking factors and potential uses. A Call for Participation for this Workshop is expected in September. Scholarships to cover travel costs will be available. Read about W3C Workshops and the Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Week Ending 18 August

New Editions of Core XML Standards Published

2006-08-16: The World Wide Web Consortium today published new editions of four core XML standards: the fourth edition of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 and second editions of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1, Namespaces in XML 1.0 and Namespaces in XML 1.1. These new editions incorporate corrections to all known errata. Read the press release and visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 11 August

Compound Document Framework and WICD Profiles: Working Drafts

2006-08-11: Addressing Last Call comments, the Compound Document Formats Working Group has released four updated Working Drafts: Compound Document by Reference Framework, WICD Core 1.0, WICD Full 1.0, and WICD Mobile 1.0. The Web Integration Compound Document (WICD, pronounced "wicked") is a device independent Compound Document profile based on XHTML, CSS and SVG. The drafts describe behavior when single documents contain multiple formats. Read more about Rich Web Clients. (Permalink)

SVG Tiny 1.2 Is a Candidate Recommendation

2006-08-10: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 to Candidate Recommendation. With native support shipping in Opera and Firefox browsers on desktops, the SVG language describes interactive vector graphics, text, images, animation and graphical applications in XML. SVG Tiny 1.2 is designed for Web access by devices of all sizes from handhelds to desktops, automobile media centers and entertainment consoles. Two implementations of SVG Tiny 1.2 are already available, with more on the way. The Requirements document is also updated. Read the press release and testimonials and visit the SVG home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 4 August

Speech Experts Focus on Synthesis in More Languages

photo of SSML Workshop 2006-08-03: Participants in the second Workshop on Internationalizing the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) have published their minutes and report. Speech and linguistics experts met on 30-31 May in Heraklion, Crete to study improvements to SSML for Asian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European languages such as Arabic, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Russian and Slovenian. W3C thanks FORTH for hosting. Read the press release, join W3C and visit the voice home page. (Photo credit: Kazuyuki Ashimura. Permalink)

Web Services Policy 1.5: Working Drafts

2006-08-01: The Web Services Policy Working Group has released First Public Working Drafts of the Web Services Policy 1.5. The Policy Framework defines a model for expressing the nature of Web services in order to convey conditions for their interaction. Attachment defines how to associate policies, for example within WSDL or UDDI, with subjects to which they apply. Read about Web services. (Permalink)

Week Ending 28 July

W3C Thanks Systems Team on Appreciation Day

2006-07-28: On System Administrator Appreciation Day, W3C expresses its gratitude to the Systems Team. Under their care W3C's main Web servers have served over 70 million hits per day. Our mail hubs reject over 1 million virus and spam delivery attempts per day with zero reported false positives. Our server infrastructure typically sees server uptimes measured in hundreds of days; some of our servers have been in continuous operation for over a year. Join us in celebration of these key contributors to W3C, and thank your own sysadmins for their tireless work. We extend our appreciation to: (Permalink)

Ted Guild Named Head of Systems

photo of Ted Guild 2006-07-26: W3C has named Ted Guild to Head of W3C Systems. Previously led by Alan Kotok, the Systems Team is responsible for the operation of W3C servers worldwide, development and deployment of software tools, and support for standards development, content development, collaboration, communication and archiving. Ted came to W3C in 2000 from corporate IT positions in financial, Internet, public utilities and marketing organizations. Read more About W3C. (Photo credit: Ralph R. Swick. Permalink)

XHTML 2.0: Working Draft

2006-07-26: The HTML Working Group has released the eighth public Working Draft of XHTML™ 2.0. A general purpose markup language without presentation elements, XHTML 2 is designed for representing documents for a wide range of purposes across the Web. See the introduction for the differences between XHTML versions 1 and 2. Much of XHTML 2 works in existing browsers. The draft includes an implementation in RELAX NG with DTD and XML Schema implementations to follow. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

XHTML Role Attribute Module: Working Draft

2006-07-25: The HTML Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of the XHTML Role Attribute Module to provide the ability to integrate the role attribute into any markup language based on XHTML Modularization 1.1. Developed in conjunction with the accessibility community and other groups, the document is the first of a series of XHTML modules designed to help extend the scope of XHTML-family markup languages into new environments. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

Mobile Stakeholders Sketch Future of Device Description Repository

photo of the Workshop 2006-07-24: Participants in the International Workshop on the Implementation of a Device Description Repository have published their report. Mobile operators, manufacturers, service providers, and accessibility, content adaptation and device information providers met 12-13 July in Madrid, Spain, to discuss the creation of a repository of device information. W3C thanks Telefónica for hosting. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort to make the Web interoperable and usable for users of mobile devices. (Photo credit: Cédric Kiss. Permalink)

Week Ending 21 July

Privacy Policy and Enforcement Workshop: Call for Participation

2006-07-21: W3C will hold a Workshop on Languages for Privacy Policy Negotiation and Semantics-Driven Enforcement on 17-18 October 2006 at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. Vendors and researchers will meet to discuss privacy for personal data, automated policy negotiation in Web services, Web applications and identity management, and the use of Semantic Web technologies for privacy enforcement. Participation is open to Members and the public. Read about Workshops and the Privacy Activity. (Permalink)

Specifying Language in XHTML and HTML Content: Working Draft

2006-07-21: The Internationalization GEO (Guidelines, Education & Outreach) Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Internationalization Best Practices: Specifying Language in XHTML & HTML Content. Part of a series designed for authors, the document is an aid to specifying the language of content for an international audience. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

SVG Tiny 1.2 Working Draft

2006-07-21: In response to Last Call comments, the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group has published a Working Draft of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 Specification. The SVG language delivers vector graphics, text, and images to the Web in XML. SVG Tiny 1.2 is a complete language specification and is implementable on devices large and small, from cellphones and PDAs to desktop and laptop computers. Visit the SVG home page. (Permalink)

WAI to Advise on 508 Standards Update

2006-07-20: W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has been appointed to the Advisory Committee for the revision of U.S. Section 255 guidelines and Section 508 standards, which include Web accessibility. WAI looks forward to continuing to coordinate with organizations around the world to develop harmonized standards for Web accessibility. Additional information is available in the U.S. Access Board article: Board Names Advisory Committee for 508 Standards Update. Visit the WAI home page. (Permalink)

Emotional States Focus of Incubator Group

2006-07-19: W3C is pleased to announce the creation of the Emotion Incubator Group to investigate a language to represent the emotional states of users and the emotional states simulated by user interfaces. The group is sponsored by W3C Members DFKI, Deutsche Telekom T-Com, University of Edinburgh, Chinese Academy of Sciences, EPFL, USC ISI, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. W3C Members may use this form to join the group. Read about the Incubator Activity, an initiative to foster development of emerging Web-related technologies. (Permalink)

Efficient XML Interchange Measurements: Working Draft

2006-07-18: The Efficient XML Interchange Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of the Efficient XML Interchange Measurements Note. An analysis of the expected performance characteristics of a potential Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) encoding format, the draft covers the "compactness" and "processing efficiency" properties and outlines plans for future updates. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

XForms 1.1: Working Draft

2006-07-18: The XForms Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of XForms 1.1. Designed to refine and strengthen the XML processing platform introduced by XForms 1.0, version 1.1 adds several submission capabilities, a more powerful action processing facility, the ability to manipulate data arbitrarily and to access event context information, and adds numerous helpful data types, utility functions, user interface improvements, and action event handlers. Visit the XForms home page. (Permalink)

W3C Names Yves Lafon Web Services Activity Lead

photo of Yves Lafon 2006-07-17: W3C has named Yves Lafon to the position of Web Services Activity Lead. The Web Services Activity includes Working Groups for semantic annotations, addressing, choreography, description and policy as well as XML protocol and databinding. Yves joined W3C in 1995 to work on the experimental browser Arena. He led development of Jigsaw, W3C's Java based server, and served as Activity Lead for the Protocols Activity and the XML Protocol Activity. and as Team Contact for the XML Protocol Working Group, the XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Working Group and the Web Services Choreography Working Group. W3C wishes to thank Hugo Haas who previously led the Activity. Read more about W3C. (Permalink)

Week Ending 14 July

Semantic Web Activity Grows to include GRDDL, Deployment Working Groups

2006-07-14: W3C is pleased to announce the renewal of the Semantic Web Activity. "W3C continues to support the advancement of universal sharing and automatic processing of data in the World Wide Web," said Ivan Herman (W3C). Semantic Web technologies allow data to be shared and reused across applications, enterprises, and communities. The W3C Advisory Committee approved the continuing work in RDF data access, rules interchange, and health care and life sciences. Three new groups are chartered for work on Semantic Web deployment, extracting RDF from XML (e.g., to process microformats), and education and outreach. Join W3C and visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

mobileOK Scheme: Working Draft

2006-07-12: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of the W3C mobileOK Scheme 1.0. mobileOK labels indicate that content and its delivery pass tests based on the Mobile Web Best Practices and are designed to create an effective user experience. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort by authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators. (Permalink)

Advance Notice: Workshop on Requirements for XSL-FO 2.0

2006-07-11: W3C plans a Workshop on Gathering Requirements for Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) 2.0 on 18 October in Heidelberg, Germany, hosted by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. The Workshop will be held in conjunction with a symposium on Web Printing at the same location. Participants will discuss the requirements, features and design of a future version of the formatting part of the Extensible Stylesheet Language also called XSL-FO. A Call for Participation for this Workshop is expected in August. Read about W3C Workshops and the XML Activity. (Permalink)

XML Query and XPath Data Model Updated

2006-07-11: The XML Query and XSL Working Groups have released an updated Candidate Recommendation of XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model (XDM). Both XSLT 2 and XQuery use XPath expressions and operate on XDM instances such as documents and databases. The group also released an updated Working Draft of the XQuery Update Facility which provides expressions to create, modify and delete nodes. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Rule Interchange Format Use Cases and Requirements Updated

2006-07-10: The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of RIF Use Cases and Requirements. Synthesized from nearly fifty use cases, the document specifies use cases and requirements for a format that allows rules to be translated between rule languages and thus transferred between rule systems. The group invites comments through 8 September. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 7 July

Geospatial Properties of Web Resources Focus of Incubator Group

2006-07-05: W3C is pleased to announce the creation of the Geospatial Incubator Group, whose mission is to begin addressing issues of location and geographical properties of resources for the Web of today and tomorrow. The group is sponsored by W3C Members the Open Geospatial Consortium, Oracle Corporation, SRI International, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC ISI). W3C Members may use this form to join the group. Read about the Incubator Activity, an initiative to foster development of emerging Web-related technologies. (Permalink)

Last Call: XHTML Modularization 1.1

2006-07-05: The HTML Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of XHTML™ Modularization 1.1. This modularization allows the subsets and extensions to XHTML needed for emerging platforms. This document is based on Modularization of XHTML in XML Schema and the Modularization of XHTML W3C Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 4 August. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: XHTML Basic 1.1

2006-07-05: The HTML Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of XHTML™ Basic 1.1. The draft adds four new features for small devices which are the language's primary users. Version 1.1 is intended to be the convergence of the XHTML Basic 1.0 W3C Recommendation for mobile devices, released in coordination with the WAP Forum in 2000, and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) XHTML Mobile profile. Comments are welcome through 4 August. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

Semantic Annotations for WSDL: Working Draft

2006-07-03: The Semantic Annotations for Web Services Description Language (SAWSDL) Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Semantic Annotations for WSDL. The attributes defined in this draft are references from elements within Web Services Description Language (WSDL) or XML Schema documents to concepts in ontologies outside the documents. Read more about Web services. (Permalink)

Week Ending 30 June

W3C Talks in July

2006-06-30: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

W3C Renews CSS Working Group

2006-06-28: W3C is pleased to announce the renewal of the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group. Bert Bos (W3C) is Chair. The group is chartered through 1 July 2008 to develop and maintain CSS specifications, profiles and test suites. CSS is the most common style sheet language for HTML documents and can be used with textual XML documents. W3C Members may use this form to join the Working Group. Visit the CSS home page. (Permalink)

W3C Launches Math Working Group for MathML 3.0

2006-06-28: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of a new Math Working Group to replace the Math Interest Group. Patrick Ion (Invited Expert, representing the American Mathematical Society) and Robert Miner (Design Science) will co-Chair. The group is chartered through 29 February 2008 to produce a new MathML 3.0 Recommendation, to improve and expand MathML in the areas of internationalization, accessibility, and mathematical richness. W3C Members may use this form to join the Working Group. Visit the Math home page. (Permalink)

W3C Names Jérôme Chailloux Site Manager of W3C/ERCIM

photo of Jerome Chailloux 2006-06-27: Jérôme Chailloux has joined the W3C staff and management team as the new Site Manager for W3C/ERCIM. Based in France, Jérôme brings a wealth of experience to W3C in both technology development and management. Jérôme was the main inventor and developer of the programming language Le-Lisp. He served on an information technology committee for the French National Ministry for Education, Research and Technology. Jérôme also held the position of Chief Information Officer of the genomics company GENSET. Please join us in welcoming Jérôme to W3C. (Permalink)

Mobile Web Best Practices: Call for Implementations

photo of mobile Web access 2006-06-27: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 to Candidate Recommendation. Written for designers of Web sites and content management systems, these guidelines describe how to author Web content that works well on mobile devices. Thirty organizations participating in the Mobile Web Initiative achieved consensus and encourage adoption and implementation of these guidelines to improve user experience and to achieve the goal of "One Web." Read the press release and testimonials. (Permalink)

Last Call: WebCGM 2.0

2006-06-26: The WebCGM Working Group has released a First Public and Last Call Working Draft of WebCGM 2.0. WebCGM is a vector and composite vector/raster picture definition used in technical illustration, documentation, and data visualization. Version 2.0 adds DOM access to WebCGM objects and an XML Companion File (XCF) for external data, and extends graphical and intelligent content. The draft incorporates discussion and feedback on the OASIS Committee Specification submitted to W3C. Comments are welcome through 30 July. Read more about WebCGM. (Permalink)

Week Ending 23 June

Visions of Ubiquitous Web Shared at W3C Workshop

2006-06-22: Attendees from countries including Austria, China, Finland, France, India, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden and the USA presented thirty two position papers on 9-10 March in Tokyo at the W3C Workshop on the Ubiquitous Web. They proposed ways to standardize distributed applications that adapt to context: user preferences, device capabilities and environmental conditions. The Workshop report has been published. W3C thanks Keio University for hosting. Read the press release and about W3C Workshops. (Permalink)

Working Draft: XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0

2006-06-21: The Web Application Formats Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0, a technology for extending the appearance and behavior of elements in Web formats such as HTML. This draft was produced from the XBL 2.0 specification developed by the Mozilla Foundation and has now moved to the W3C Recommendation Track. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

Working Draft: XMLHttpRequest Object for AJAX

2006-06-19: The Web API Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of The XMLHttpRequest Object. The draft documents features of the XMLHttpRequest object, the core component of AJAX. The interface allows scripts to perform HTTP client functions, such as submitting form data or loading data from a remote Web site. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

Working Draft: RDF/OWL Representation of WordNet

2006-06-19: The WordNet Task Force of the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of RDF/OWL Representation of WordNet. The draft proposes a conversion to RDF and OWL of WordNet, the machine-readable lexical reference system developed at Princeton University for the English language. The group describes how the conversion was made and how it may be queried for use in Semantic Web applications. Read about the Semantic Web. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Primer for Web Services Choreography

2006-06-19: The Web Services Choreography Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Web Services Choreography Description Language: Primer. The primer is intended as an easy to understand tutorial on the uses and the features of the WS-CDL specification. WS-CDL describes peer-to-peer collaborations between Web service participants by defining their behavior from a global viewpoint. Ordered message exchanges thus accomplish a common business goal. Visit the Web services home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 16 June

Working Draft: Selectors API

2006-06-14: On 25 May, the Web APIs Working Group released the First Public Working Draft of Selectors API. The draft defines methods for identifying elements in a document for the purpose of performing script or Document Object Model (DOM) operations on them. Selectors defined in the CSS3 Selectors specification are used to identify the elements. Visit the Web APIs Working Group home page. (Permalink)

Core XML Specifications: Proposed Edits

2006-06-14: The XML Core Working Group has released four Proposed Edited Recommendations for core XML specifications: the fourth edition of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 and second editions of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1, Namespaces in XML 1.0 and Namespaces in XML 1.1. Proposed for the convenience of readers, the publications correct all errors reported to date and are not new versions. The test suites have been updated. For XML, markup for RFC 2119 key words has been improved. Comments are welcome through 12 July. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

CSS3: Generated Content for Paged Media

2006-06-12: The CSS Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of CSS3 module: Generated Content for Paged Media. The draft describes features used in printed publications: named strings, leaders, cross-references, footnotes, endnotes, running headers and footers, named flows, ad hoc counter styles, paged-based floats, hyphenation, change bars, and named page and generated lists. It is a companion to the CSS3 modules for multicolumn layout and paged media. Visit the CSS home page. (Permalink)

Language Tags and Locale Identifiers: Updated Working Draft

2006-06-12: The Internationalization Core Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Language Tags and Locale Identifiers for the World Wide Web. The draft includes mechanisms for identifying or selecting the language of content or locale preferences used to process information using Web technologies. It describes how document formats, specifications, and implementations should handle language tags, as well as data structures for describing international preferences. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

XSLT 2.0, XML Query and XPath 2.0 Candidate Recommendations

2006-06-12: The XML Query and XSL Working Groups have released updated Candidate Recommendations of XML Query 1.0, XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0 and supporting documents. The XQuery use cases are also updated. Today's drafts incorporate comments received at Candidate Recommendation and move the xdt:* types to the XML Schema xs namespace, a change made in conjunction with the XML Schema Working Group. XSLT transforms documents into different markup or formats. Important for databases, search engines and object repositories, XML Query can perform searches, queries and joins over collections of documents. Both XSLT 2 and XQuery use XPath expressions and operate on XPath Data Model instances. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 9 June

Working Draft: XHTML Basic 1.1

2006-06-09: The HTML Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of XHTML™ Basic 1.1. The draft adds four new features for small devices which are the language's primary users. Version 1.1 is intended to be the convergence of the XHTML Basic 1.0 W3C Recommendation for mobile devices, released in coordination with the WAP Forum in 2000, and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) XHTML Mobile profile. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

Experts Share Perspectives on Web Standards at Fundamentos Web 2006

2006-06-09: The W3C Spanish Office is pleased to present Vinton Cerf and noted Web Standards experts at the second edition of Fundamentos Web 2006 (Web Foundations 2006) on 3-5 October in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. Daniel Appelquist, Andy Clarke, Enrique Dans, Ben Hammersley, Bernardo Hernández, Molly Holzschlag, Richard Ishida, Dean Jackson, Gumerinsdo Lafuente, Bob Regan, Dave Shea, Juan Varela, Luis Villa, Chris Wilson and Kevin Yank will present. Registration for the conference, which sold out last year, is open and offers discounts for W3C Members. (Permalink)

Week Ending 2 June

In Memoriam: Alan Kotok

photo of Alan Kotok 2006-06-01: Alan Kotok, W3C Associate Chair, MIT site manager and head of the W3C Systems Team, passed away last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He was 64. Before his many contributions to W3C, Alan held senior engineering positions at DEC. A member of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club, he helped to build the legendary computer game Spacewar. He appears in the Origins of Computer Chess and in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. We are grateful to have worked with him and will miss his great kindness, humor, intellect and dedication. Remembrances may be sent to the public-memoria@w3.org public mailing list. (Permalink)

W3C Launches Web Services Policy Working Group

2006-06-01: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the Web Services Policy Working Group. Paul Cotton (Microsoft) and Chris Ferris (IBM) will co-Chair. The group is chartered through 31 December 2007 to standardize a general policy framework for expressing Web service capabilities and requirements. W3C Members may use this form to join the Working Group. Visit the Web services home page. (Permalink)

W3C Names Ivan Herman Semantic Web Activity Lead

photo of Ivan Herman 2006-06-01: W3C has named Ivan Herman to the position of Semantic Web Activity Lead effective 1 June. Previously led by Eric Miller, the Semantic Web Activity includes development of the standards for RDF, OWL, SPARQL and rules languages. W3C wishes to thank Eric for his contributions as he moves to Semantic Web deployment. Based at CWI, site of the W3C Benelux Office, Ivan served as W3C Head of Offices and on the Semantic Web Coordination Group. Read more About W3C. (Permalink)

W3C Names Daniel Dardailler Head of W3C Offices

photo of Daniel Dardailler 2006-06-01: W3C has named Daniel Dardailler to the position of Head of W3C Offices effective 1 June. Daniel will continue his roles as W3C Associate Chair for Europe, liaison for international standards bodies, and in efforts such as UN organizations, ISOC, ISO, and ICANN. W3C Offices assist with promotion efforts in local languages, broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities. (Permalink)

W3C Talks in June

2006-06-01: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

Web Services Addressing WSDL Binding Is a W3C Candidate Recommendation

2006-05-30: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of Web Services Addressing 1.0 - WSDL Binding to Candidate Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 7 July. The document defines how the properties in Web Services Addressing 1.0 - Core are described in the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Web Services Addressing provides transport-neutral mechanisms and is designed to work with both WSDL versions 1.1 and 2.0. Read about Web services at W3C. (Permalink)

W3C Holds the Second Workshop on Internationalizing SSML

2006-05-29: Following a successful Workshop in Beijing, China, W3C holds a second Workshop on Internationalizing the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) on 30-31 May, hosted by the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete, site of the W3C Office in Greece. Attendees will identify and prioritize extensions and additions to SSML to improve its use for rendering non-English languages. Read about W3C Workshops and visit the Voice Browser home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 26 May

W3C Welcomes Members at Advisory Committee Meeting

photo of Advisory Committee meeting 2006-05-20: W3C holds its semiannual Advisory Committee Meeting on 21-22 May in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. W3C Member organizations participate in two days of discussions and strategic planning about W3C Activities and future work. Learn How to Become a W3C Member and join W3C at the next Advisory Committee Meeting on 29-30 November in Tokyo, Japan. (Permalink)

W3C Invites Public Discussion of Current, Future Work at WWW2006

photo of Jack McConnell at the podium 2006-05-23: We invite you to attend the W3C Track of the Fifteenth International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2006) for discussion on Web standards in media, health sciences, and international commerce, as well as opportunities in the next wave of Internet and Web technical development. Come learn about the latest developments in accessibility, browser security, Semantic Web applications, SVG graphics, compound document formats and styling, Web services, XML tools, and the Mobile Web Initiative. The W3C Track runs from 24-26 May in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Read the press release. (Permalink)

Week Ending 19 May

W3C to Participate in Advisory Board of Internet Governance Forum

Daniel Dardailler, W3C Representative on the Internet Governance Advisory Board2006-05-18: In a 17 May 2006 press release, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan established "an Advisory Group to assist him in convening the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a new forum for a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Internet governance." Daniel Dardailler, W3C's Associate Chair for Europe, will represent W3C on the new Advisory Board. W3C looks forward to sharing its experience in distributed consensus-building within this new international environment for standardization. (Permalink)

W3C Launches WebCGM Working Group

2006-05-18: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the Web CGM Working Group. Lofton Henderson will Chair this Working Group, which is chartered through 31 May 2007 to produce a W3C Recommendation for version 2.0 of the WebCGM 1.0 Recommendation. W3C Members may use this form to join the Working Group. Visit the WebCGM Working Group home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0

2006-05-18: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 that incorporates comments from their 18 April 2006 Last Call Working Draft. This document aims to improve user experience by describing how to produce Web content and Web sites intended for delivery to mobile and small-screen devices. Visit the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group home page. (Permalink)

W3C Workshop on a Device Description Repository

2006-05-18: W3C holds the International Workshop on the Implementation of a Device Description Repository on 12-13 July 2006, in Madrid, Spain. Application and database developers and others are invited to discuss the design, implementation and use of a repository of device information for content and service providers. Position papers are due 31 May. Read the press release, about W3C Workshops and about the Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Last Call: Internationalization Tag Set

2006-05-18: The Internationalization Tag Set Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Version 1.0, a First Public Working Draft of Best Practices for XML Internationalization, and updated requirements. Organized by data categories, the ITS set of elements and attributes supports the internationalization and localization of schemas and documents. Implementations are provided for DTDs, XML Schema and Relax NG, and for existing vocabularies like XHTML, DocBook and OpenDocument. Last Call comments are welcome through 30 June. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: WSDL RDF Mapping

2006-05-18: The Web Services Description Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0: RDF Mapping. Comments are welcome through 17 July. WSDL 2.0 models and describes modular Web services and is used to document distributed systems and to automate communication between applications. The draft describes WSDL in RDF and OWL, and a mapping procedure for transforming WSDL descriptions into RDF form. Read about Web services. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Authorizing Read Access to XML Content

2006-05-18: The Voice Browser, Web API and Web Application Formats (WAF) Working Groups jointly released a Working Draft of Authorizing Read Access to XML Content Using the <?access-control?> Processing Instruction 1.0. The draft describes a mechanism in use by voice browser vendors that allows content providers to specify the access policy of that content. Implementors should perform their own security analysis. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

Working Draft: RDFa Primer

2006-05-17: The HTML Working Group and the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group jointly have published an updated Working Draft of the RDFa Primer 1.0. RDFa expresses metadata in XHTML-compatible constructs and extensions, enabling a new world of user functionality. Produced by the groups' RDF in XHTML Task Force, the draft is a companion to the XHTML 2.0 specification. Read about the HTML Activity and the Semantic Web. (Permalink)

DIAL to Improve User Experience by Adapting Web Content

2006-05-16: The W3C Device Independence Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Device Independent Authoring Language (DIAL). DIAL describes data, styling, layout, and interaction independently, making Web content adaptable for a wide variety of platforms including the thousands of mobile devices in use and devices to come. Read the press release and more about device independence. (Permalink)

Week Ending 12 May

Web Services Addressing Is a W3C Recommendation

2006-05-09: The World Wide Web Consortium today released Web Services Addressing - Core and its SOAP Binding as W3C Recommendations. The core properties allow uniform addressing of Web services and messages, independent of the underlying transport. The binding defines their association to SOAP messages. Read the press release and testimonials and visit the Web services home page. (Permalink)

Working Drafts: XQuery Update Facility

2006-05-08: The XML Query Working Group has published updated Working Drafts of the XQuery Update Facility and its Use Cases. XML Query can perform searches, queries and joins over collections of XDM instances such as documents and databases. The specifications provide expressions to create, modify and delete nodes within those instances. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 5 May

Full-Text Search Working Drafts Published

2006-05-03: The XML Query and XSL Working Groups have released an updated Working Draft of XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Full-Text. The draft defines a language that extends XQuery and XPath to allow full-text searching of XML text and documents. The companion Use Cases Working Draft has also been updated and provides examples for full-text search over data model collections. Read about the XML Activity. (Permalink)

Week Ending 28 April

Call for Participation: W3C Workshop on a Device Description Repository

2006-04-28: Position papers are due 31 May for the W3C International Workshop on the Implementation of a Device Description Repository to be held 12-13 July 2006, in Madrid, Spain, hosted by Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo. Participants will discuss the design, implementation and use of a Device Description Repository (DDR) being proposed by the MWI Device Description Working Group. The proposed DDR will provide device information to content and service providers for adapting content to suit client devices. Read about W3C Workshops and the Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

W3C Talks in May

2006-04-27: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

Last Call: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

2006-04-27: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Working Drafts of Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0, and About Baselines for WCAG 2.0. Following WCAG makes Web content more accessible to the vast majority of users, including people with disabilities and older users, using many different devices including a wide variety of assistive technologies. Comments are welcome through 31 May. Read about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (Permalink)

W3C China Office Opens

photo of W3C China Office opening ceremony 2006-04-27: The W3C China Office is open in Beijing, China, hosted at the School of Computer Science & Engineering of Beihang University. For more information on the opening ceremonies on 27-28 April, please refer to the press release. W3C Offices assist with promotion efforts in local languages, broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities. W3C invites organizations in China who wish to become W3C Members to contact the W3C China Office and Join W3C. (Permalink)

Last Call: Timed Text Distribution Profile

2006-04-27: The Timed Text (TT) Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the Timed Text (TT) Authoring Format 1.0 – Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP). The format enables authors and authoring systems to interchange style, layout and timing associated with text. DFXP helps to transform and distribute subtitles and captions to legacy systems. Comments are welcome through 18 May. Timed Text (TT) Authoring Format 1.0 Use Cases and Requirements were published as a Working Group Note. Visit the Synchronized Multimedia home page. (Permalink)

Incubator Group to Explore Semantic Web for Multimedia Content

2006-04-25: W3C is pleased to announce the creation of the Multimedia Semantics Incubator Group, chartered to show how metadata interoperability can be achieved by using the Semantic Web technologies to integrate existing multimedia metadata standards. The group is sponsored by W3C Members IVML-NTUA, CWI, University of Aberdeen, University of Maryland and DFKI. Read about the Incubator Activity, a new initiative to foster development of emerging Web-related technologies. (Permalink)

Browser Vendors, Finance Communities Convene to Address Pressing Web Security Issues

photo of Workshop attendees 2006-04-25: Google, HP, IBM, KDE, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, Sun Microsystems, VeriSign, Yahoo! and many other W3C Members and research organizations gathered with leaders of the online finance community in New York City, USA, to address pressing Web security issues at the March 2006 W3C Workshop on "Usability and Transparency of Web Authentication." The Workshop report, including suggested next steps, is now available. W3C thanks Citigroup for hosting and Cisco for network services. More information is available in the press release. Read about W3C Workshops. (Permalink)

Week Ending 21 April

Working Draft: Language Tags and Locale Identifiers

2006-04-21: The Internationalization Core Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Language Tags and Locale Identifiers for the World Wide Web. The draft includes mechanisms for identifying or selecting the language of content or locale preferences used to process information using Web technologies. It describes how document formats, specifications, and implementations should handle language tags, as well as data structures for describing international preferences. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

Note: Multimodal Developer Feedback

2006-04-17: The Multimodal Interaction Working Group has released Multimodal Application Developer Feedback as a Working Group Note. The Note documents feedback for the W3C Multimodal Interaction and Voice Browser Working Groups to consider when specifying future multimodal and voice authoring capabilities. It includes features developers liked about their development environments as well as features they thought were lacking. Visit the Multimodal Interaction home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 14 April

Working Draft: Multimodal Architecture and Interfaces

2006-04-14: The Multimodal Interaction Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of Multimodal Architecture and Interfaces. The draft is a framework and platform for the creation and development of user interfaces that allow multiple ways to interact with the Web. With multimodal interaction users choose the way or "mode" of access that suits their current needs. Developers can provide user interfaces and output for each mode, including displays, tactile mechanisms, speech and audio. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Internationalization Tag Set

2006-04-14: The Internationalization Tag Set Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS). Organized by data categories, this set of elements and attributes supports the internationalization and localization of schemas and documents. Implementations are provided for DTDs, XML Schema and Relax NG, and for existing vocabularies like XHTML, DocBook and OpenDocument. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

Advance Notice: Workshop on Device Description Repository

2006-04-13: W3C plans an International Workshop on the Implementation of a Device Description Repository on 12-13 July in Madrid, Spain, hosted by Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo. Participants will discuss the design, implementation and use of a Device Description Repository (DDR) being proposed by the Device Description Working Group. The proposed DDR will provide device information to content and service providers for adapting content to suit client devices. A Call for Participation for this Workshop is expected in April. Read about W3C Workshops and the Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Working Draft: DOM Level 3 Events

2006-04-13: The Web API Working Group has released a Working Draft of Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events. Language and platform neutral, the system allows registration of event handlers, describes event flow through a tree structure, and provides context for each event. The previous version of this document was a Working Group Note from the Document Object Model (DOM) Working Group. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

Note: Defining N-ary Relations on the Semantic Web

2006-04-13: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment (SWBPD) Working Group has published Defining N-ary Relations on the Semantic Web as a Working Group Note. In Semantic Web languages like RDF and OWL, a property links two individuals or an individual and a value. The Note presents patterns and considerations for representing relations between more than two individuals or values. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: Mobile Web Best Practices

2006-04-12: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0. The draft describes how to produce Web content and Web sites intended for delivery to mobile and small-screen devices. Written for all participants in the mobile value chain, the document is designed to improve user experience. Comments are welcome through 3 May. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort by authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators. (Permalink)

Working Draft for XML Processing Model

2006-04-11: The XML Processing Model Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of XML Processing Model Requirements and Use Cases. The draft describes the conceptual model of XML process interactions, the XML Pipeline Language to describe these interactions, and the inputs and outputs of the overall process. The group is chartered to standardize the order, parameters, and expected results for transformations for the large group of specifications such as XSLT, XML Schema, XInclude and XML Canonicalization that operate on and produce XML documents. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: CSS 2.1

2006-04-11: Addressing many of the comments received during Last Call, the CSS Working Group has published a Working Draft of Cascading Style Sheets, level 2 revision 1 (CSS 2.1). CSS 2.1 is derived from and is intended to replace CSS2. A snapshot of CSS language usage, the specification adds a few highly requested features, fixes errata and brings CSS2 in line with implementations. Visit the CSS home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft for Device Description Repository

2006-04-10: The Device Description Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Device Description Repository Requirements 1.0. This draft contains requirements for storing and giving access to device descriptions. Topics include extensibility and capacity; query, access and management mechanisms, availability and resilience; extensibility; format and storage; and validation and accuracy. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort by authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Window Object

2006-04-10: The Web API Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Window Object 1.0. This draft defines the Window object, a long-standing de facto standard. Window provides the global namespace for Web scripting languages, access to other documents in a compound document by reference, timers and navigation to other locations. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

Week Ending 7 April

SPARQL Specifications Are W3C Candidate Recommendations

2006-04-06: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of the SPARQL specifications to Candidate Recommendations. With SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle"), developers and end users can write and consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL Query Language for RDF specifies syntax for authoring, matching and testing. SPARQL Protocol for RDF describes remote data access and transmission of queries from clients to processors. The SPARQL Query Results XML Format is provided for search results. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: XMLHttpRequest Object for AJAX

2006-04-05: The Web API Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of The XMLHttpRequest Object. The draft documents features of the XMLHttpRequest object, the core component of AJAX. The interface allows scripts to perform HTTP client functions, such as submitting form data or loading data from a remote Web site. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Launches China Office

photo of archway2006-04-04: W3C is pleased to announce the opening of the W3C China Office. The Office is hosted at the School of Computer Science & Engineering of Beihang University in Beijing, China. Jinpeng Huai is Office Manager. Kazuyuki Ashimura, Steve Bratt, Marie-Claire Forgue, Ivan Herman, Richard Ishida, and Dean Jackson are among those attending the opening ceremonies on 27-28 April. Read the press release and about W3C Offices. (Permalink)

Week Ending 31 March

W3C Talks in April

2006-03-30: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

Working Draft: XML Schema 1.1 Structures

2006-03-30: The XML Schema Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of XML Schema 1.1 Part 1: Structures. XML schemas define shared markup vocabularies, the structure of XML documents which use those vocabularies, and provide hooks to associate semantics with them. This draft has changes for XML 1.1, union types, context, canonical forms of values, the Simple Type Definition, and white space handling. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Disposition of Names in an XML Namespace

2006-03-29: The W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) has released the First Public Working Draft of The Disposition of Names in an XML Namespace. This finding on a TAG issue addresses the question of whether or not adding new names to a (published) namespace is a sound practice. The TAG's mission is stewardship of the Web architecture. Read Architecture of the World Wide Web and the TAG findings, and visit the TAG home page. (Permalink)

XLink 1.1 Is a W3C Candidate Recommendation

2006-03-28: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of XML Linking Language (XLink) Version 1.1 to Candidate Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 1 July. The XLink 1.1 language allows elements to be inserted into XML documents in order to create and describe links between resources. It uses XML syntax to create structures that can describe links similar to the simple unidirectional hyperlinks of today's HTML, as well as more sophisticated links. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Rule Interchange Format Use Cases and Requirements

2006-03-27: The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of RIF Use Cases and Requirements. Synthesized from nearly fifty use cases, the document specifies use cases and requirements for a format that allows rules to be translated between rule languages and thus transferred between rule systems. The group invites comments through 21 April. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Updated: Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 2.0

2006-03-27: The Web Services Description Working Group has updated three Candidate Recommendations for the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0: Part 0: Primer, Part 1: Core Language and Part 2: Adjuncts. Comments are welcome through 1 July. WSDL RDF Mapping and SOAP 1.1 Binding are updated Working Drafts. WSDL 2.0 models and describes modular Web services and is used to document distributed systems and to automate communication between applications. Read about Web services. (Permalink)

Week Ending 24 March

Working Draft: Image Annotation

2006-03-22: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Image Annotation on the Semantic Web. Produced by the group's Multimedia Annotation in the Semantic Web Task Force, the draft describes creation, storage, manipulation, interchange and processing of image metadata. Guidelines and an overview of tools and RDF and OWL vocabularies are provided. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Web Services Addressing Is a W3C Proposed Recommendation

2006-03-21: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of Web Services Addressing - Core and its SOAP Binding to Proposed Recommendations. The core specification defines properties that allow uniform addressing of Web services and messages, independent of the underlying transport. The binding defines the core properties' association to SOAP messages. Comments are welcome through 18 April. SOAP 1.1 Request Optional Response HTTP Binding was published as a Working Group Note. Visit the Web services home page. (Permalink)

Upcoming W3C Talks

2006-03-21: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

W3C Renews and Expands Web Services Activity

2006-03-21: W3C is pleased to announce the renewal of the Web Services Activity through February 2008. The Activity has an Interest Group, a Coordination Group, and four Working Groups including the new Semantic Annotations for Web Services Description Language (SAWSDL) Working Group. Participation is open to W3C Members. "W3C is bringing communities together... to work on a standard solution for Web automation," said Jacek Kopecky (DERI Innsbruck), Chair of the SAWSDL Working Group. Read the press release and about W3C Activities. (Permalink)

Note: Delivery Context for Device Independence

2006-03-20: The Device Independence Working Group has updated the Delivery Context Overview for Device Independence Working Group Note. The term delivery context is used to describe user preferences and the capabilities of user Web access mechanisms. Part of a series, the Note describes information that may be included in the delivery context, and how that information may be used and conveyed. Read more about device independence. (Permalink)

Week Ending 17 March

Call for Participation: Workshop on Internationalizing SSML

2006-03-16: Following a successful Workshop in Beijing, China, W3C holds a second Workshop on Internationalizing the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) on 30-31 May, hosted by the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete, site of the W3C Office in Greece. Attendees will identify and prioritize extensions and additions to SSML to improve its use for rendering non-English languages. Position papers are due 14 April. Read about W3C Workshops and visit the Voice Browser home page. (Permalink)

W3C Names Ubiquitous Web and Interaction Domain Leaders

photos of Philipp Hoschka and Chris Lilley2006-03-15: W3C is pleased to announce new management of Activities related to the Web's user interface. Philipp Hoschka leads the newly created Ubiquitous Web Domain which includes the Device Independence, Mobile Web Initiative (MWI), Multimodal Interaction and Voice Browser Activities, and continues his role as W3C Deputy Director for Europe. Chris Lilley leads the Interaction Domain which includes the Graphics, HTML, Math, Rich Web Clients, Style, Synchronized Multimedia and XForms Activities. Read about W3C's Management Team and Activities. (Permalink)

W3C Security Workshop, 15-16 March, New York

photo of Workshop attendees2006-03-15: The W3C Workshop on Transparency and Usability of Web Authentication is underway 15-16 March hosted by Citigroup in New York, NY USA. Attendees will identify and report publicly on steps W3C can take to improve the Web's trustworthiness and security for users. Read the program, over forty accepted position papers and about Technology and Society. (Permalink)

Note: XML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL

2006-03-14: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published XML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL as a Working Group Note. Providing questions and answers about XML Schema datatypes in the Semantic Web, the Note addresses user defined datatypes, comparison of values, duration, and the use of numeric types. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies

2006-03-14: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies. Produced by the group's Vocabulary Management Task Force, this cookbook offers step-by-step instructions for choosing and publishing an RDF Schema or OWL vocabulary or ontology on the Web, giving example configurations for the Apache HTTP server. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

XForms 1.0 Second Edition Is a W3C Recommendation

2006-03-14: The World Wide Web Consortium today released XForms 1.0 Second Edition as a W3C Recommendation. The new generation of Web forms, XForms separate presentation and content, minimize round-trips to the server, offer device independence, and reduce the need for scripting. This second edition adds clarifications and corrects errors as reported in the first edition errata. Second edition publications include the following documents. (Permalink)

Working Draft: RDF/A Primer

2006-03-14: The HTML Working Group and the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group jointly have published the First Public Working Draft of the RDF/A Primer 1.0. Produced by the groups' RDF in XHTML Task Force, the draft is a companion to the XHTML 2.0 specification. This document introduces syntax for expressing RDF metadata within XHTML and explains the use of the XHTML metainformation modules. Read about the HTML Activity and the Semantic Web. (Permalink)

Week Ending 10 March

Note: Semantic Web Primer for Object-Oriented Software Developers

2006-03-10: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published A Semantic Web Primer for Object-Oriented Software Developers as a Working Group Note. Produced by the group's Software Engineering Task Force, the Note shows how development processes can use the Semantic Web as a platform for domain model creation, sharing and reuse. RDF Schema and OWL are shown used in tandem with mainstream object-oriented languages. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 3 March

W3C Hosts Sixth Annual Technical Plenary Week

photo of stage, presenter and plenary attendees2006-02-28: W3C holds its Technical Plenary Week from 27 February - 3 March in Cannes-Mandelieu, France where 30 W3C Working Groups and Interest Groups hold face-to-face meetings. Participants and invited guests attend plenary day for talks and discussions on data ownership, microformats, query languages, the Grid, a backplane for compound documents, and formal methods. Join W3C and attend the next Technical Plenary planned for November 2007 in the Boston, Massachusetts area, USA. (Permalink)

Week Ending 24 February

Last Call: SPARQL Query Language for RDF

2006-02-22: The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Query Language for RDF. SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Internationalization Tag Set

2006-02-22: The Internationalization Tag Set Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS). Organized by data categories, this set of elements and attributes supports the internationalization and localization of schemas and documents. Implementations are provided for DTDs, XML Schema and Relax NG, and for existing vocabularies like XHTML, DocBook and OpenDocument. Visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

XSL 1.1 Is a W3C Candidate Recommendation

2006-02-21: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Version 1.1 to Candidate Recommendation. Version 1.1 updates and enhances the XSL 1.0 Recommendation for change marks, indexes, multiple flows, and bookmarks, and extends support for graphics scaling, markers, and page numbers. Comments are welcome through 31 May. Read about the XML Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Holds Seminar on Using Web Services

photo of Seminar reception by Philippe Le Hegaret2006-02-21: W3C invites the public to the free seminar Using Web Services - From Infrastructure to Semantics in Paris, France on 6 March. W3C Members Amadeus, Canon, France Telecom, Nokia and W3C technical staff will demonstrate Web services in real world scenarios, show how business challenges are resolved, and offer a preview of semantic enhancements. Registration is required. Read the press release and about Web services. The WS2 project is a European IST Programme. (Permalink)

Week Ending 17 February

Last Call: XML Schema 1.1 Datatypes

2006-02-17: The XML Schema Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of XML Schema 1.1 Part 2: Datatypes. Comments are welcome through 31 March. XML schemas define shared markup vocabularies, the structure of XML documents which use those vocabularies, and provide hooks to associate semantics with them. With XML Schema Part 2, datatypes may be defined for use in XML schemas as well as other contexts. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: Web Services Addressing WSDL Binding

2006-02-16: The Web Services Addressing Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Web Services Addressing 1.0 - WSDL Binding. Comments are welcome through 31 March. The document defines how the properties in Web Services Addressing 1.0 - Core are described in the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Web Services Addressing provides transport-neutral mechanisms and is designed to work with both WSDL versions 1.1 and 2.0. Read about Web services at W3C. (Permalink)

XHTML™ Modularization 1.1 Is a W3C Proposed Recommendation

2006-02-13: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of XHTML™ Modularization 1.1 to Proposed Recommendation. This modularization allows the subsets and extensions to XHTML needed for emerging platforms. This document is based on Modularization of XHTML in XML Schema and the Modularization of XHTML W3C Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 6 March. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) 1.1

2006-02-13: The P3P Specification Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of the Platform for Privacy Preferences 1.1 (P3P 1.1). P3P simplifies and automates the process of reading Web site privacy policies, promoting trust and confidence in the Web. Version 1.1 has new extension and binding mechanisms based on suggestions from W3C workshops and the privacy community. The draft completes the transition to XML Schema for P3P data schemas. Comments are welcome through 31 March. Read about privacy and P3P. (Permalink)

W3C Presents at 3GSM World Congress

2006-02-13: Please join W3C at the 3GSM World Congress in Hall 2 stand G78 on 13-16 February in Barcelona, Spain. Marie-Claire Forgue, Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, Philipp Hoschka and Cédric Kiss present. "At 3GSM 2006, W3C will show recent work on best practices for mobile content authors. With authors' help, mobile telephones and computers can offer usable and interoperable Web browsing worldwide," said Philipp Hoschka. Read about W3C at 3GSM and the W3C Mobile Web Initiative. (Permalink)

Week Ending 10 February

Note: RDF/Topic Maps Interoperability

2006-02-10: The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published A Survey of RDF/Topic Maps Interoperability Proposals as a Working Group Note. The Note records existing proposals for integrating data represented in W3C's RDF/OWL family of languages with data represented in ISO's Topic Maps. It is a starting point for establishing guidelines for combined usage of these standards, assuring interoperability. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: Device Description Landscape

2006-02-10: The Device Description Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of Device Description Landscape, a companion to Device Description Ecosystem. This draft describes the current state of the various options that exist for providing Device Descriptions to enable device-aware applications. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort by authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators. (Permalink)

Working Drafts: Remote Events for XML (REX)

2006-02-08: A joint effort of the SVG and Web API Working Groups, the REX Task Force has released the First Public Working Draft of Remote Events for XML (REX) 1.0 and their Requirements. Using the REX grammar, endpoints can interact with DOM Events remotely as if they were at the same location. Read more about Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and Web APIs. (Permalink)

W3C Launches Incubator Activity

2006-02-08: W3C announces the launch of its Incubator Activity, a new initiative to foster development of emerging Web-related technologies. "With the Incubator Activity, W3C Members and Invited Experts can now combine Web technology discovery with the outstanding technical resources of W3C and see what develops," said Steve Bratt, W3C Chief Executive Officer. The first Incubator Group (XG) to be launched addresses the issue of content labels. Read the press release and the new XG charter. (Permalink)

Week Ending 3 February

Internationalization Articles Published

2006-02-02: The Internationalization GEO (Guidelines, Education & Outreach) Working Group publishes information to help people understand and use international aspects of W3C technologies. Recently the group published Changing (X)HTML page encoding to UTF-8, xml:lang in XML document schemas and Localization vs. Internationalization, as well as numerous updates and translations. For details and I18n news and RSS feeds, visit the Internationalization home page. (Permalink)

W3C Talks in February

2006-01-31: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

Last Call: Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS)

2006-01-31: The Voice Browser Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0. Comments are welcome through 15 March. Designed for ease of use by developers and internationally, PLS allows pronunciation information to be specified for speech recognition and speech synthesis engines in voice browsing applications. Pronunciations grouped together in a PLS document may be referenced from other markup languages such as SRGS and SSML. Visit the Voice Browser home page. (Permalink)

Note: Arabic Mathematical Notation

2006-01-31: The Math Interest Group has released Arabic mathematical notation as an Interest Group Note. The Note analyzes the handling of mathematical presentation in Arabic and related languages using the Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) 2.0. Its goals are to clarify implementation details and to uncover genuine specification limitations that may require extensions. Read about the W3C Math Activity. (Permalink)

XHTML-Print Is a W3C Proposed Recommendation

2006-01-31: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of XHTML-Print to Proposed Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 28 February. XHTML-Print is designed for printing from mobile devices, low-cost printers and in environments without a printer-specific driver. The work is based on XHTML-Print written by the Printer Working Group (PWG), a program of the IEEE-ISTO. Visit the HTML home page. (Permalink)

W3C Highlights Mobile Web at 3GSM World Congress

2006-01-31: Mobile industry leaders have reached a preliminary agreement on best practices for mobile Web content. Written to improve user experience, the Last Call Working Draft of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 describes how to produce Web content and Web sites intended for delivery to mobile and small-screen devices. Please send review comments before 17 February 2006. Read the press release and about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative. Visit the W3C booth at 3GSM 13-16 February in Barcelona, Spain. (Permalink)

Week Ending 27 January

Working Drafts: XQuery Update Facility

2006-01-27: The XML Query Working Group has released First Public Working Drafts of the XQuery Update Facility and its Use Cases. XML Query can perform searches, queries and joins over collections of XDM instances such as documents and databases. Today's drafts provide expressions to create, modify and delete nodes within those instances. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: SPARQL Protocol for RDF

2006-01-26: The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Protocol for RDF. The draft describes RDF data access and transmission of RDF queries from clients to processors. The protocol is compatible with the SPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") and is designed to convey queries from other RDF query languages as well. Comments are welcome through 10 February. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: SPARQL Query Results XML Format

2006-01-26: The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Query Results XML Format. The SPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources. Comments are welcome through 10 February. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: State Chart XML (SCXML)

2006-01-24: The Voice Browser Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control Abstraction 1.0. SCXML is an execution environment based on UML Harel State Tables and CCXML. SCXML is a candidate for the control language within VoiceXML 3.0, CCXML 2.0, and the authoring language under development by the Multimodal Interaction Working Group. Visit the Voice Browser home page. (Permalink)

W3C to Hold Workshop on the Ubiquitous Web

2006-01-24: W3C holds the Workshop on the Ubiquitous Web on 9-10 March in Tokyo, Japan. The Ubiquitous Web "takes advantage of the diversity of networked devices," said Dave Raggett (W3C/Canon). Attendees will examine technologies and help W3C make choices for standardization to realize the vision of distributed applications that adapt to users' needs, device capabilities and environmental conditions. Position papers are due 10 February. Read the press release and about W3C Workshops. (Permalink)

W3C Names Steve Bratt Chief Executive Officer

photo of Steve Bratt2006-01-23: W3C has named Dr. Steven R. Bratt to the newly-created position of W3C Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective 20 January. In this capacity, Steve will continue to oversee worldwide operations and outreach, including overall management of Member relations, the W3C Process, the staff, strategic planning, budget, legal matters, external liaisons and major events. Since joining W3C in 2002, Steve served as W3C's Chief Operating Officer and subsequently also as Acting Chair. Read about the W3C management team and more About W3C. (Permalink)

Week Ending 20 January

W3C Seminar on Using Web Services

2006-01-19: As part of the European IST Programme's WS2 project, the seminar Using Web Services - From Infrastructure to Semantics will be held in Paris, France on 6 March. W3C Members Amadeus, Canon, France Telecom, Nokia and W3C technical staff will demonstrate the use of Web services technologies in real world scenarios. Please register. The seminar is free and open to the public. Visit the Web Services home page. (Permalink)

Working Draft: XML Schema 1.1 Datatypes

2006-01-17: The XML Schema Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of XML Schema 1.1 Part 2: Datatypes. XML schemas define shared markup vocabularies, the structure of XML documents which use those vocabularies, and provide hooks to associate semantics with them. With XML Schema Part 2, datatypes may be defined for use in XML schemas as well as other contexts. Visit the XML home page. (Permalink)

Web Authentication Position Papers Due 25 January

2006-01-17: Position papers are due 25 January for the W3C Workshop on Transparency and Usability of Web Authentication to be held 15-16 March 2006, hosted by Citigroup in New York, NY, USA. Attendees will identify steps W3C can take to improve the Web's trustworthiness and security for users. Topics include site authentication, safe Web client behavior, communication with users, infrastructures for content providers, and user agent testing. Read the press release, about W3C Workshops and more about Technology and Society. (Permalink)

Upcoming W3C Talks

2006-01-17: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

XKMS Activity Completes Work and Closes

2006-01-17: W3C is pleased to announce that the XML Key Management (XKMS) Working Group has successfully completed its work: the W3C Recommendation XML Key Management Specification (XKMS 2.0) and its companion Bindings and Requirements as well as the Working Group Notes Using XKMS with PGP and A WSDL 1.1 description for XKMS. With XKMS, users can share public key identity across applications, systems and trust boundaries. Please join us in thanking all participants and Chairs Stephen Farrell (Invited Expert) and Shivaram Mysore (Microsoft) for their contributions. Read about Technology and Society at W3C. (Permalink)

Week Ending 13 January

Keio Hosts Semantic Web Conference 2006 in Tokyo

2006-01-13: The Semantic Web Conference 2006 will be held at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan on 27 January 2006, organized by INTAP. Keio University holds an exhibition booth, Nobuo Saito gives a welcome message, and Tatsuya Hagino presents "Past and Future of the Semantic Web" and moderates a panel discussion on "Semantic Web, the Past, Today and Tomorrow." (Permalink)

W3C Offices Meet Face to Face in Amsterdam

Group photo of meeting participants2006-01-13: W3C's Offices held their annual meeting on 10-11 January in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. "Office representatives from five continents and members of the W3C Communication Team have gathered at CWI, the hosting institution of the W3C Benelux Office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Issues related to W3C Membership, Office events, outreach, and plans for the future of the W3C Office program for 2006 and beyond were discussed," said Ivan Herman, Head of Offices. W3C Offices work with their regional Web communities to promote W3C technologies in local languages, broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities. Visit the Offices home page. (Permalink)

W3C Advisory Committee Elects TAG Participants

2006-01-13: The W3C Advisory Committee has elected T.V. Raman (Google) and Henry Thompson (University of Edinburgh) to the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG). Continuing TAG participants are Dan Connolly (W3C), Noah Mendelsohn (IBM), David Orchard (BEA), Ed Rice (HP), Norman Walsh (Sun Microsystems) and co-Chairs Tim Berners-Lee (W3C) and Vincent Quint (INRIA). In 2004, the TAG published the W3C Recommendation Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One. Visit the TAG home page. (Permalink)

Last Call: Mobile Web Best Practices

2006-01-13: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0. The draft describes how to produce Web content and Web sites intended for delivery to mobile and small-screen devices. Written for all participants in the mobile value chain, the document is designed to improve user experience. Comments are welcome through 17 February. Read about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, a joint effort by authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators. (Permalink)

Candidate Recommendation: Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) 1.0

2006-01-13: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of the Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) Version 1.0 language to Candidate Recommendation. The specification describes ECMAScript-based annotations to grammar rules for extracting meaning from speech recognition. SISR defines the syntax and semantics of tag content in the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification (SRGS) for output as serialized XML or ECMAScript variables. Comments are welcome through 20 February. Visit the Voice Browser home page. (Permalink)

Week Ending 6 January

Candidate Recommendations: Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 2.0

2006-01-06: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0 specifications to Candidate Recommendations: Part 0: Primer, Part 1: Core Language and Part 2: Adjuncts. Comments are welcome through 15 March. SOAP 1.1 Binding is an updated Working Draft. WSDL 2.0 models and describes modular Web services and is used to document distributed systems and to automate communication between applications. Read about Web services. (Permalink)


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