News Release: W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of Web Content

W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of Web Content
Web Community Forges Next HTML Standard in Public W3C Forum

http://www.w3.org/ -- 22 January 2008 -- W3C today published an early 
draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web. 
The HTML Working Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-free 
specification for rich Web content and Web applications. The group 
operates entirely in public with nearly five hundred participants, 
including representatives from W3C Members ACCESS, AOL, Apple, Google, 
IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera.

"HTML is of course a very important standard," said Tim Berners-Lee, 
author of the first version of HTML and W3C Director. "I am glad to see 
that the community of developers, including browser vendors, is working 
together to create the best possible path for the Web. To integrate the 
input of so many people is hard work, as is the challenge of balancing 
stability with innovation, pragmatism with idealism."

See the full text below.

  - Ian Jacobs Head of W3C Communications

Resources:
---------

This press release:
   in English:  http://www.w3.org/2008/02/html5-pressrelease.html.en
   in French:   http://www.w3.org/2008/02/html5-pressrelease.html.fr
   in Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2008/02/html5-pressrelease.html.ja

HTML 5 - W3C Working Draft:
   http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-html5-20080122/
Changes from HTML 4
   http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-html5-diff-20080122/

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Full press release text
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W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of Web Content
Web Community Forges Next HTML Standard in Public W3C Forum

http://www.w3.org/ -- 22 January 2008 -- W3C today published an early 
draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web. 
The HTML Working Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-free 
specification for rich Web content and Web applications. The group 
operates entirely in public with nearly five hundred participants, 
including representatives from W3C Members ACCESS, AOL, Apple, Google, 
IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera.

"HTML is of course a very important standard," said Tim Berners-Lee, 
author of the first version of HTML and W3C Director. "I am glad to see 
that the community of developers, including browser vendors, is working 
together to create the best possible path for the Web. To integrate the 
input of so many people is hard work, as is the challenge of balancing 
stability with innovation, pragmatism with idealism."

Why the Community Wants HTML 5

Engineers, designers, marketing departments, and users have learned much
about the Web as a medium since HTML 4 was first published in December
1997. Web sites reflect this progress: no longer static page 
collections, they are now media-rich communities that leverage 
participation and evolve dynamically to better meet customer needs. Ajax
and related innovations have propelled demands for a new standard that 
allows people to create Web applications that interoperate across 
desktop and mobile platforms.

W3C launched the HTML Working Group in March 2007 as a forum for 
building consensus around the new standard. The group has already 
published a set of HTML design principles, which include: ensuring 
support for existing content, codifying widespread practice, separating 
concerns (markup from presentation), and enabling universal access. 
These principles help guide the group's decision-making.

What's New in HTML 5

Some of the most interesting new features for authors are APIs for 
drawing two-dimensional graphics, embedding and controlling audio and 
video content, maintaining persistent client-side data storage, and for 
enabling users to edit documents and parts of documents interactively. 
Other features make it easier to represent familiar page elements, 
including <section> <footer>; <nav> (for navigation), and <figure> (for 
assigning a caption to a photo or other embedded content). Authors write
HTML 5 using either a "classic" HTML syntax or an XML syntax, according 
to application demands. See a list of changes from HTML 4.

The HTML 5 specification helps to improve interoperability and reduce 
software costs by giving precise rules not only about how to handle all 
correct HTML documents but also how to recover from errors. This is the 
first version of HTML developed under W3C's Royalty-Free Patent Policy.

In addition to the browser makers listed above, the following W3C 
Members are helping to shape the HTML 5 specification: BEA Systems, 
Inc.; Betfair Limited; Boeing; Cisco; Disruptive Innovations; Dreamlab 
Technologies AG; France Telecom; Hewlett-Packard; IWA-HWG; Mitsue-Links 
Co., Ltd.; mTLD Top Level Domain Limited; Openwave Systems Inc.; Oxford 
Brookes University; PicoForms; Queensland University of Technology; 
Stanford University; University of Innsbruck; and the U.S. Library of 
Congress.

W3C welcomes feedback from the public on this First Public Working 
Draft; see the specification for guidance on sending comments. W3C urges
more authoring tool developers to take this opportunity to join the HTML
Working Group to ensure that HTML 5 meets the needs of their customers. 
W3C also encourages people to let software makers know which features of
HTML 5 they most value.

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Press Contacts:
---------------

Contact Americas, Australia --
     Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

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About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]
------------------------------------------

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

###
-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447

Received on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 16:16:01 UTC