News Release: SMIL 3.0 Advances Standard for Synchronized Multimedia

SMIL 3.0 Advances Standard for Synchronized Multimedia

W3C Integrates Industry and User Experience into Feature Set

http://www.w3.org/ -- 1 December 2008 -- Today W3C announced a
   new standard to make it easier to author interactive multimedia
   presentations. Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
   (SMIL) 3.0 allows video, audio, images, text, and hypertext links to
   be combined into interactive presentations, with fine-grain control
   of layout and timing.

See the complete press release below.

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Resources
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 This press release in
     English: 
     http://www.w3.org/2008/12/smil3-pressrelease.html.en

     French:
     http://www.w3.org/2008/12/smil3-pressrelease.html.fr

     Additional languages:
     http://www.w3.org/Press/#x2008-smil3

 Testimonials
     http://www.w3.org/2008/11/smil-testimonial.html

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Contacts
========
 
   Contact Americas, Australia --
          Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447

   Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East --
          Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94

   Contact Asia --
          Fumihiro Kato <fumi@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

  _________________________________________________________

http://www.w3.org/ -- 1 December 2008 -- Today W3C announced a
   new standard to make it easier to author interactive multimedia
   presentations. Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
   (SMIL) 3.0 allows video, audio, images, text, and hypertext links to
   be combined into interactive presentations, with fine-grain control
   of layout and timing.

   "The importance of SMIL 3.0 is that it contains a set of
   user-requested features that provide exciting new functionality,
   while retaining all the advantages of a declarative (that is,
   without scripting) approach to building a multimedia presentation,"
   said Dick Bulterman, chair of the Synchronized Multimedia
   Working Group, which published the specification.

   The new features in SMIL (pronounced, "smile") are a direct response
   to user and industry demand. For instance, the standard allows
   full-motion, timed captions and labels to be directly inserted in
   the presentation (called smilText). And SMIL's media pan-zoom
   control allows people to create "Ken Burns"-style animations easily
   for photos and visual content. SMIL 3.0 also allows authors to embed
   timed metadata in presentations, making SMIL a useful descriptive
   language for the development of Semantic Web resources that evolve
   over time.

   These new features enable end-users to enhance video and image sites
   with captions, subtitles and other annotations, even if the video or
   images were created by somebody else. SMIL provides a standard and
   flexible way to accompany media with links, captions, metadata, and
   other information that requires timing coordination.

   SMIL 3.0 also integrates a number of industry extensions to previous
   versions of the standard. "By integrating extensions such as those
   developed at RealNetworks," said Eric Hyche, Principal Engineer at
   RealNetworks, "SMIL 3.0 will boost wider acceptance and
   interoperability of multimedia on the Web."

   Developers and users alike are invited to consult the collection
   of tools, demonstrators, and book that accompany the SMIL 3.0
   release.

SMIL 3.0 Primed for XML Applications, Mobile Web

   SMIL 3.0 is designed so that people may build multimedia
   applications for an increasing number of platforms that support Web
   standards. For instance, people can now safely add multimedia
   presentations to other XML applications, including HTML and SVG.
   SMIL 3.0 also makes it easier to develop multimedia applications on
   mobile platforms. "SMIL Tiny" is a minimal profile of SMIL 3.0
   perfect for embedded systems and light-weight applications such as
   media playlists.

   According to Luiz Fernando Gomes Soares, who coordinates the
   development of the Ginga/NCL reference implementation for the
   Brazilian DTV standard, "The simple declarative structure of SMIL
   Tiny makes it an interesting candidate for augmenting interaction in
   future set-top boxes. This could stimulate new forms of end-user
   interaction with content in a safe and localized manner."

SMIL 3.0 Integrates Features for Accessibility

   SMIL 3.0 benefits users with disabilities through integration of
   features requested by the DAISY Consortium. The Daisy Consortium
   uses SMIL for its Talking Books, an open format designed to meet the
   needs of blind and visually challenged Web users.

   "SMIL 3.0 includes several new accessibility features and, for the
   first time, a fully-conforming language profile has been defined for
   DAISY books," said Dr. George Kerscher, Secretary-General of the
   Daisy Consortium. "As the Consortium moves forward with revisions to
   the DAISY Standard, we will build on SMIL 3.0 and extend the
   functionality in the DAISY Standard to support the production and
   consumption of rich media publications that are accessible to all."

   The participants in the Synchronized Multimedia Working Group
   involved in the publication were: Access Technologies (worldwide),
   CWI - Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (Netherlands), the Daisy
   Consortium (Worldwide), the Helsinki University of Technology
   (Finland), the International Webmasters Association/HTML Writers
   Guild (Italy), Loria/INRIA Lorraine (France), the National Center
   for Research on Disabilities (Japan), Nokia (worldwide), the
   Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil),
   RealNetworks (USA) and La Universidad de Oviedo (Spain).

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 440 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/
-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447

Received on Tuesday, 2 December 2008 04:11:38 UTC