HTML is the family name for the group of languages that form the lingua franca of the World Wide Web.
The XHTML2 Working Group is chartered to continue to evolve HTML into an XML-based markup language, modularize it to make it easier to combine with other markup languages, and correct the problems known still to exist in areas such as internationalization, accessibility, device independence and forms processing. The HTML Working Group is chartered to evolve traditional HTML. The Hypertext Coordination Group (HCG) is chartered to to address issues that may arise concerning several Working Groups in the Hypertext area. Participants in the HCG may also include liaison representatives of other standards bodies.
Since the 2008 technical plenary, the HTML Working Group has seen a number of significant changes. Sam Ruby (IBM) joined the group as co-chair in January 2009 and led work to establish a publication strategy designed to encourage members of the group to draft additional concrete proposals and to submit them to the group for discussion and consideration for publication as Working Drafts. That work on Sam's part was fundamental in getting agreement within the group to support publication, by the group, of the document HTML+RDFa: A mechanism for embedding RDF in HTML as a First Public Working Draft.
In August 2009, Chris Wilson stepped down as co-chair of the group (indicating that he'd be changing the focus of his standards involvement to the programmability/API side of the Web platform ), and Sam was joined by two new co-chairs, Paul Cotton (Microsoft) and Maciej Stachowiak (Apple). A good part of the efforts of the chairs during the weeks since then has focused on getting resolutions on all open issues in the group, in preparation for transitioning HTML 5 from Working Draft status to Last Call Working Draft publication. Among the other highlights of recent months has been the public posting of much-anticipated substantive comments on HTML 5 from technical reviewers at Microsoft, and subsequently, significant changes to the HTML 5 draft in part as a result of those comments.
Another concern expressed at the 2008 technical plenary (and during a co-located joint face-to-face meeting between the HTML Working Group and the W3C TAG) was the issue of modularization of the HTML 5 specification. Significant progress has since been made on that front as well, with several major portions of the HTML 5 draft being split out into separate specifications. Those portions include the following specifications for new APIs, which now all instead have become deliverables within the W3C Web Applications Working Group:
Finally (and perhaps even more significantly with regard to the issue of modularization as it relates to Web architecture) some other portions of the HTML 5 draft that were removed are now drafts under discussion at the IETF; those include:
Because of a process issue, the PERs for XHTML 1.0, XHTML 1.1, XHTML Basic 1.1 and XHTML Print were delayed. It has been decided not to reissue XHTML 1.0, but it is anticipated that the rest will be issued in the remaining charter period, along with a revised version of XHTML Modularization.
Industry uptake of RDFa has been rapid and large, with Open Office, Yahoo, Google, and the US and British Governments being amongst the new adopters. Work is continuing on a draft of RDFa in HTML. An RDFa WG is planned for when the current XHTML2 charter expires.
Despite the support shown by the AC for the WG before and at the last AC meeting in February, W3C has decided not to renew the XHTML2 WG's charter when it expires in December. To this end a number of the existing specifications will be distributed to other groups, and a new home for the XHTML2 specification is being sought outside of W3C.
PERs for XHTML 1.0, XHTML 1.1, XHTML Basic 1.1 and XHTML Print. A revised version of XHTML Modularization. A first public WD for RDFa in HTML. A Last Call Working Draft for HTML5.
Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
---|---|---|---|
HTML Working Group (participants) | Sam Ruby, Paul Cotton, Maciej Stachowiak | Michael(tm) Smith | Chartered until 31 December 2014 |
HTML5 Japanese Interest Group | Masataka Yakura, Shinyu Murakami | Masao Isshiki, Michael(tm) Smith, Kazuyuki Ashimura | Chartered until 31 December 2014 |
HTML5 Korean Interest Group | Wonsuk Lee | Michael(tm) Smith | Chartered until 30 November 2012 |
HTML5 Chinese Interest Group | Zi Bin Cheah | Kang-Hao Lu | Chartered until 30 November 2012 |
Hypertext Coordination Group (participants) | Chris Lilley, Deborah Dahl | Chris Lilley | Chartered until 30 November 2013 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for TPAC 2011 per section 5 of the W3C Process Document. Generated from group data.
Michael Smith, HTML Activity LeadLast updated: 2009-10-01