W3C Invites Implementations of W3C XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) 1.1

2009-05-04: The XML Schema Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) 1.1. The specification consists of Part 1: Structures and Part 2: Datatypes. XSD provides tools for describing the structure of XML content and constraining the contents of XML documents. Part 2 provides tools for defining datatypes (dates, times, numbers, strings, etc.) to be used in XML Schemas as well as other XML specifications. Information about changes to structures and changes to datatypes since XML Schema 1.0 is available. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity. (Permalink)

Notes Published: Basic, Advanced XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Version 1.0

2009-05-05: The XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Working Group has published two Group Notes: Basic XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Version 1.0 and Advanced XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Version 1.0. Schema patterns describe the ways people use XML for common data structures in programming languages. The data structures described are intended to be independent of any particular programming language, database or modelling environment. Learn more about the Web Services Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Talks in May

2009-05-04: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

• 4 May, Atlanta, GA, USA: Advancing Web Accessibility.Shawn Henry presents at STC Technical Communication Summit.
• 7 May, Hammamet, Tunisia: Web Accessibility with WCAG 2.0: International Cooperation, Local Implementation.Shawn Henry gives a keynote at ICTA 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology & Accessibility.
• 7 May, Oslo, Norway: WCAG 2.0 - addressing the needs of people with disabilities and older people..Andrew Arch presents at Do Web Accessibility Guidelines guarantee Universal Design?.
• 9 May, Hammamet, Tunisia: Improving Your Web Site with WCAG 2.0.Shawn Henry gives a tutorial at ICTA 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology & Accessibility.
• 26 May, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Introduction to the Semantic Web.Ivan Herman gives a tutorial at PhD School Course, Netherlands Bioinformation Centre.
• View upcoming talks by country
• More talks...

W3C Organizes Workshop on using Ink in Multimodal Applications

2009-05-01: W3C invites people to participate in a Workshop on using Ink in Multimodal Applications within the W3C's Multimodal Architecture and Interfaces on 10-11 July 2009 in Grand Bend, Ontario (Canada), hosted by the University of Western Ontario. The goal of the Workshop is to help the Multimodal Interaction Working Group integrate handwriting modality components (Ink Modality Components) into the MMI Architecture and clarify what should be added to the Multimodal specifications to enable applications to adapt to various modality combinations including Ink. Attendees will discuss requirements for changes, extensions and additions to Ink standards especially in Multimodal Applications developed based on the W3C's MMI Architecture as a means of making InkML more useful in current and emerging markets. Position papers are due 1 June 2009. Read about the Ink Markup Language (InkML) and W3C's Multimodal Interaction Activity. (Permalink)

Three First Drafts of SVG Modules Published

2009-04-30: The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group published three first public drafts today. SVG is a language for describing vector graphics, but it is typically rendered to a display or some form of print medium. The first new publication, SVG Compositing, adds support for raster and vector objects to be combined to produce eye catching effects via advanced alpha compositing, masks, and clipping paths. The other specifications are for SVG Referenced Parameter Variables: Part 1: Primer and Part 2: Language. The Referenced Parameter Variables specification provides a declarative way to incorporate parameter values into SVG content. Often, users may wish to create a single resource, and reuse it several times with specified variations, and this specification provides a means to do so without the use of script. Learn more about the Graphics Activity. (Permalink)

Last Call: Widgets 1.0: Digital Signatures; Widgets Requirements Updated

2009-04-30: The Web Applications Working Group has published the Last Call Working Draft of Widgets 1.0: Digital Signatures. This document defines a profile of the XML Signature Syntax and Processing 1.1 specification to allow a widget package to be digitally signed. Widget authors and distributors can digitally sign widgets as a mechanism to ensure continuity of authorship and distributorship. A user agent can use the digital signature to verify the integrity of the widget package and to confirm the signing key(s). Comments are welcome through 01 June. The Working Group also published an updated Working Draft of Widgets 1.0: Requirements. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity. (Permalink)

First Draft of Use cases and requirements for Media Fragments

2009-04-30: The Media Fragments Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Use cases and requirements for Media Fragments. The aim of this specification is to enhance the Web infrastructure for supporting the addressing and retrieval of subparts of time-based Web resources. Example uses are the sharing of such fragment URIs with friends via email, the automated creation of such fragment URIs in a search engine interface, or the annotation of media fragments with RDF. This specification will help make video a first-class citizen of the World Wide Web. In addition to describing use cases for the Media Fragments 1.0 specification, this document discusses syntax and processing of media fragment URIs, and offers survey of technologies that address multimedia fragments. Learn more about the Video in the Web Activity. (Permalink)

XML Signature Properties Draft Published

2009-04-30: The XML Security Working Group has published a Working Draft of XML Signature Properties. This document outlines proposed standard XML Signature Properties syntax and processing rules and an associated namespace for these properties. The intent is these can be composed with any version of XML Signature using the XML SignatureProperties element. Learn more about the Security Activity. (Permalink)

Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema: Working Draft Published

2009-04-28: The Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG) today published an updated Working Draft of Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 Schema. This document provides the formal schema of EARL 1.0, a vocabulary to express test results. EARL is a format to exchange, combine, and analyze results from different evaluation tools. Read the invitation to review EARL 1.0 Schema and learn more about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). (Permalink)

Four Web Application API Drafts Published

2009-04-23: The Web Applications Working Group has published four First Public Working Drafts of specifications for APIs that enhance the open Web platform as a runtime environment for full-featured applications:

• Web Storage provides APIs for persistent client-side data storage by Web applications.
• Web Workers defines an API for enabling thread-like operations (using message-passing) in Web applications, so that certain application tasks can be run in parallel.
• Web Sockets API provides an API for full-duplex communication between a Web application and a remote host.
• Server-Sent Events defines an API for opening an HTTP connection for receiving push notifications from a server in the form of DOM events.

The Web Storage, Web Sockets API, and Server-Sent Events specifications were previously published as parts of the HTML 5 specification, but will now each become Recommendation-track deliverables within the Web Applications Working Group. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity. (Permalink)

HTML 5, Differences from HTML 4 Drafts Published

2009-04-23: The HTML Working Group has published a Working Draft of HTML 5. HTML 5 adds to the language of the Web: features to help Web application authors, new elements based on research into prevailing authoring practices, and clear conformance criteria for user agents in an effort to improve interoperability. This particular draft specifies how authors can embed SVG in non-XML text/html content, and how browsers and other UAs should handle such embedded SVG content. See also the news about moving some parts of HTML 5 to individual drafts. The full list of changes since the previous draft are listed in the updated companion document HTML 5 differences from HTML 4. Learn more about the HTML Activity. (Permalink)

W3C Invites Implementations of Media Queries

2009-04-23: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of Media Queries. HTML4 and CSS2 currently support media-dependent style sheets tailored for different media types. For example, a document may use sans-serif fonts when displayed on a screen and serif fonts when printed. ‘screen’ and ‘print’ are two media types that have been defined. Media Queries extend the functionality of media types by allowing presentations to be tailored more precisely to device characteristics. Learn more about the Style Activity. (Permalink)

CSS 2.1 Candidate Recommendation Updated

2009-04-23: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group updated the Candidate Recommendation of Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification. CSS 2.1 is a style sheet language that allows authors and users to attach style (e.g., fonts and spacing) to structured documents (e.g., HTML documents and XML applications). CSS 2.1 corrects a few errors in CSS2 (the most important being a new definition of the height/width of absolutely positioned elements, more influence for HTML's "style" attribute and a new calculation of the 'clip' property), and adds a few highly requested features which have already been widely implemented. But most of all CSS 2.1 represents a "snapshot" of CSS usage: it consists of all CSS features that are implemented interoperably. This draft incorporates errata resulting from implementation experience since the previous publication. Learn more about the Style Activity. (Permalink)

Widgets 1.0: APIs and Events Draft Published

2009-04-23: The Web Applications Working Group has published a Working Draft of Widgets 1.0: APIs and Events. Widgets are full-fledged client-side applications that are authored using Web standards. Examples range from simple clocks, stock tickers, news streamers, games and weather forecasters, to complex applications that pull data from multiple sources to be "mashed-up" and presented to a user in some interesting and useful way The APIs and Events specification defines a set of APIs and events for the Widgets 1.0 family of specifications. The specification allows application writers to access widget configuration information, monitor changes in the widget display, determine locale information, monitor updates to the widget, and more. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity. (Permalink)

Last Call: OWL 2

2009-04-21: The OWL Working Group has published new Working Drafts for OWL 2, a language for building Semantic Web ontologies. An ontology is a set of terms that a particular community finds useful for organizing data (e.g., for data about a book, useful terms include "title" and "author"). OWL 2 (a compatible extension of OWL 1) consists of 13 documents (7 technical, 4 instructional, and 2 group Notes). For descriptions and links to all the documents, see the OWL 2 Documentation Roadmap. This is a "Last Call" for the technical materials and is an opportunity for the community to confirm that these documents satisfy requirements for an ontology language. This is a second Last Call for six of the documents, but because the changes since the first Last Call are limited in scope, the review period lasts only 21 days. For an introduction to OWL 2, see the four instructional documents: an overview, primer, list of new features, and quick reference. Learn more about the Semantic Web. (Permalink)

WWW2009 Opens with Tim Berners-Lee Keynote "Twenty Years"

2009-04-22: Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web, delivered the opening keynote address at the WWW2009 Conference earlier today in Madrid, Spain; keynote slides are available. During his talk, titled "Twenty Years," he touched on the future as well, including topics such as Web applications, open social networking and open linked data. Shortly before his keynote, Berners-Lee joined Dame Wendy Hall, Robert Caillau, Vint Cerf, Dale Dougherty and Mike Shaver on a panel to share thoughts on the twentieth anniversary of the Web. During the remainder of the week, W3C encourages people to participate in the W3C track, which this year features two "camps": the Mobile Widgets camps on 23 April and the Social Web Camp on 24 April. Follow discussion on the #w3ctrack twitter feed. (Photo credit: Thomas Tikwinski. Permalink)

Last Call: "rdf:text Primitive Datatype"

2009-04-21: The OWL Working Group and the Rule Interchance Format (RIF) Working Group have jointly published a Last Call Working Draft of rdf:text: A Datatype for Internationalized Text. This datatype, compatible with XML Schema 1.1 Datatypes, is used within RIF and OWL 2 to provide support for text in various languages and scripts (identified by a BCP 47 tag such as "fr" for French). The document defines the datatype, discusses its relationship to RDF Plain Literals and the XML Schema string datatype, and specifies functions (compatible with XPath) for operating on rdf:text data values. It also discusses how to use this feature within RDF serializations. Learn more about the Semantic Web. (Permalink)

Eight Proposed Recommendations for XSLT, XPath, XQuery Published

2009-04-21: The XSL and XML Query Working Groups have published eight Proposed Edited Recommendations for Second Editions of XSL Transformations (XSLT), XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language, XML Syntax for XQuery 1.0 (XQueryX) and XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0, together with their supporting documents, XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model (XDM), XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics, XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization and XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators. The second editions, if approved, will add the generate-id function from XSLT to XPath and XQuery, and will also incorporate the outstanding errata, including a number of clarifications that may affect implementations. Enhanced test suites are being augmented and will be published shortly. Review welcome by 31 May 2009. Learn more about XML. (Permalink)

First Draft: Usage Patterns For Client-Side URI parameters

2009-04-16: The Technical Architecture Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Usage Patterns For Client-Side URI parameters. The goal of this draft TAG finding is to initially collect the various usage scenarios that are leading to innovative uses of client-side URI parameters, along with the solutions that have been developed by the Web community. As highly interactive applications get built using Web parts (HTML, CSS and JavaScript component resources) that are themselves Web addressable, there is an increasing need for encoding interaction state as part of the URI. The Web is beginning to discover and codify design patterns based on fragment identifiers for many of these use cases. Learn more about the Technical Architecture Group. (Permalink)