Software Free

The W3C, like, OWNS the Web, man.
Work continues there on drafting specifications for the next version of HTML, and the working group charged with this task has just released a new editor's draft detailing progress. While the process is far from finished, the new browsers are already recognizing some new elements of the updated standard, so we thought we'd take a look at how HTML 5 is shaping up.

Whether it's the Web API Working Group publishing a Working Draft of “Progress Events 1.0 or the CSS Working Group defining the syntax for using namespaces in CSS, have no doubt that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been hard at work trying to keep our dear web world in line.

Oh how we love the W3C. Such an exciting summer for all their working groups and recommendations, it's hard to believe that there is still work to do.

The W3C launched a new Web Applications (WebApps) Working Group, co-Chaired by Art Barstow (Nokia) and Charles McCathieNevile (Opera Software). The group combines the former Web APIs and Web Application Formats Working Groups and is focused on developing standard APIs for client-side Web Application development, including both documenting existing APIs such as XMLHttpRequest and developing new APIs in order to enable richer web applications. The group is a part of the Rich Client Activity.

Standards, standards and more standards...This time we bring you news from the W3C Web API Working Group. They have published their Working Draft of "Progress Events 1.0".

Progress Events are event types used to monitor the progress of an operation. If you develop applications using XMLHTTPRequest or Media Access Events, then you need to understand how the progress events are being defined.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of “CSS Namespaces Module.” This module defines the syntax for using namespaces in CSS and may have wide spread implications in the design world.

If Creative Commons (CC) has any say in the matter, the Web will soon have a standard machine-readable notation for licenses. Named the Creative Commons Rights Expression Language (ccREL), the notation has been under development for the last few years, partly with the cooperation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3).

A presentation from an IBM employee in Europe has just been shared a little more publicly. It describes the serious problems ISO will be facing after the countless OOXML scandals that worked in Microsoft’s favour.

If you like to review W3C standards before they become official, here's one you need to take a close look at. The W3C Web API Working Group has published the Last Call Working Draft of "The XMLHttpRequest Object" specification.

It was about mid-December, just after Opera Software filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft -- partly focused on Internet Explorer not following web standards -- that Microsoft finally came out and publicly announced their support for key web standards in version 8 of their prolific web browser.

With the recent release of IE8's first Beta the public can now finally find out for themselves just how well they have done that. What is even more interesting -- and perhaps a matter of debate -- is that they have done it in such a way as to not "Break the Web." Or in other words, they plan to deliver IE8 with backwards compatibility by introducing a controversial third operating mode.

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) realizes that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) discouragement of Javascript does not work for developing accessible Rich Internet Applications. They do recognize the need to provide technologies to map controls, AJAX live regions, and events to accessibility APIs.

As a result, the Protocols and Formats Working Group has released the first set of Working Drafts of the ARIA - Accessible Rich Internet Applications suite.

Oh the semantic web. Such romantic and lofty notions are conjured up at even its mere mention. And now, how it sparkles so. I refer, of course, to SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") the new query technology released by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3).

"W3C announced today the publication of SPARQL, the key standard for opening up data on the Semantic Web. With SPARQL query technology, pronounced "sparkle," people can focus on what they want to know rather than on the database technology or data format used behind the scenes to store the data. Because SPARQL queries express high-level goals, it is easier to extend them to unanticipated data sources, or even to port them to new applications. «Trying to use the Semantic Web without SPARQL is like trying to use a relational database without SQL» explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. «SPARQL makes it possible to query information from databases and other diverse sources in the wild, across the Web» ..." via http://www.w3.org/News/2008#item6

"...'Ogg' is a wrapper that ties together 'Theora' encoded video and 'Vorbis' encoded sound. Together, Ogg Theora+Vorbis give users a way to see movies on your computer. Ogg Vorbis+Theora are not known to be encumbered by any patents (the only applicable patent on Theora’s predecessor, called 'VP3', was licensed for everyone to use in any way they want). Ogg Theora+Vorbis are implementable on nearly all modern computers. There is free software (zero-cost and freely to sharable and modifiable) to make and play Ogg Vorbis+Theora movies. Ogg Vorbis+Theora are a great basis for interoperability and a fine choice to recommend in any standard that uses multimedia files precisely because everyone can use Ogg Theora+Vorbis..."

There’s a movement afoot in the web development community that says it’s time to move beyond standards and take the web to a new levels. Unhappy with the pace of innovation at the W3C, many developers are calling on browser manufacturers to go beyond supporting official W3C specifications and develop tools to support new features.

Nokia has joined Apple in calling for a change in the video code requirements for HTML 5. Specifically they want the W3C Working Group to drop the requirement that browsers and devices support the Ogg video and audio codecs.