Proposed changes to W3C validator logos

Dear Validator Developers,

In April 2005 you summarized a list of requirements for the set
of W3C validator logos:
  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-qa-dev/2005Apr/0006  

I am pleased to let you know that the W3C Communications Team
plans to satisfy your requests. Points 1, 2, and 3 pose no real
problem (as far as I can tell at this time). I believe this new
approach will also enable us to satisfy point 5: faster
turn-around time when the need for a new logo arises.

We propose that to address point 4 -- regarding fonts and their
distribution -- as follows:

 * The Communications Team does not have any particular position
   on the license under which the validator software is
   distributed, although informally I think that we support your
   own goals.

   The Communications Team does wish to maintain significant
   control over usage of the W3C logo (which is embedded in the
   validator logos), and therefore believes that it is
   appropriate to distribute the logos and software under
   different licenses. For example, the validator logo license
   would likely allow unlimited redistribution but impose
   constraints on the creation of derivative works in order to
   preserve the W3C brand. Currently, the Communications Team does
   not plan to permit the creation of derivative logos; that may
   change in the future. 

   Given this proposal to use two distinct licenses, do you think
   the logos should be distributed as part of a validator
   package, or do you think that the logos should be made
   available separately on the W3C Web site for people to
   download?

 * There are two text parts to the validator logos: the "W3C"
   logo and the name of the subject of validation. You requested
   that the fonts used be embeddable, and that we use open source
   fonts that may be freely distributed. After discussion in the
   Team, and based on the limitations of available licenses for
   embedding the Emigre font we use in the W3C logo (which we do
   not plan to modify at this time), we prefer an alternative
   approach for creating the master for each logo:

    1) Create a master validator logo using SVG. In that master:

      * For the W3C logo, use text and an embedded SVG font 
        (i.e., included directly in the SVG container) for the 
        custom "W3C" ligature.

      * Embed directly an SVG font created from a
        (to-be-identified) font that can be distributed
        according to some suitable license. There may not be an
        open font available today that satisfies everyone's
        tastes, but we are prepared to use one and upgrade
        later if we learn of one that generates more enthusiasm
        and has the appropriate licensing characteristics. 
        People have suggested starting with either Bitsream
        Vera or Freesans; can you suggest other open source
        sans serif options?

    2) From this master, create one SVG validator logo instance
       for each validation subject (e.g., XHTML 1.0). Each such
       instance will:

       * Include the proper text (e.g., "XHTML 1.0"), and
       * Include the corresponding SVG font subset for those
         characters.

    3) Derive the PNG and GIF versions from each SVG 
       validator logo instance, taking into account the comments
       you sent about these formats (e.g., with respect to 
       transparency).
        
There may be some visual differences among the validator logo
instances (e.g., the radical sign of the MathML logo), but in
general, this approach should let us create new validator logo
instances quickly when the validator expands to offer a new service.

Please note that these changes are part of a larger Comm team
project to clean up and harmonize a large set of W3C logos (e.g.,
so that they use the same W3C blue) as well as their associated
policies. Many thanks to Susan Lesch and Janet Daly, and well as Karl
Dubost, Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, Chris Lilley, Olivier Thereaux, and
Liam Quin for their input to the Comm Team on this project.

I look forward to your feedback. Thank you again for your
contributions,

 - Ian Jacobs, Head of W3C Communications
-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447