Another proposed HTML charter

The HTML Working Group

Mission

  This group will continue the evolution of HTML by maintaining, and
  producing incremental revisions to, the HTML, XHTML, and DOM HTML
  languages and APIs.


Scope

  The Working Group is expected to publish a single specification
  defining the semantics of HTML as a DOM language, a serialisation
  format compatible with legacy HTML user agents and content, and a
  set of DOM APIs for use with the language.

  The specification is initially expected to cover:

   * A language evolved from HTML4 for describing the semantics of
     documents and applications on the World Wide Web.

   * A serialised form of such a language using XML.

   * A serialised form of such a language using a custom format
     compatible with the parsers of legacy Web browsers.

   * DOM interfaces providing convenience APIs for such a language.

   * Forms and common UI widgets such as progress bars, datagrids,
     menus, and other controls.

   * Command abstractions and related APIs.

   * APIs for the manipulation of sound, 2D bitmap and vector
     graphics, 3D graphics.

   * Editing APIs and user-driven WYSIWYG editing features.

   * Data storage APIs.

   * Networking APIs for server-push, asynchronous two-way
     client-server communication, peer-to-peer communication, and
     client-side cross-domain communication.

  The charter will be renewed to update this list as needs change.

  The Working Group is also expected to author or co-author a
  comprehensive test suite for this specification.


Criteria For Success

  The Working Group's work will be considered a success if there are
  two independent complete and interoperable implementations of its
  deliverables that are widely used (more than 10% of the Web browser
  market each according to at least two widely recognised metric
  reporting organisations).

  Interoperability will be tested according to a comprehensive test
  suite that has at least as many tests as the specification's source
  has non-blank lines of text (assuming an average of 80 character
  lines).


Expected Milestones

  This Working Group is expected to last at least ten years before
  reaching its criteria for success, but may need a further ten years
  before achieving full interoperability.

  The expected timetable as of the writing of this charter is:

    First Working Draft in October 2007.
    Last Call Working Draft in October 2009.
    Call for contributions for the test suite in 2011.
    Candidate Recommendation in 2012.
    First draft of test suite in 2012.
    Second draft of test suite in 2015.
    Final version of test suite in 2019.
    Reissued Last Call Working Draft in 2020.
    Proposed Recommendation in 2022.

  All work-in-progress drafts will be publicly available at all
  times. The Working Group may decide to publish snapshot drafts when
  the draft is considered to be in a stable state, and will formally
  agree to publication by the process of the chair posting an e-mail
  to the Working Group's mailing list asking if everyone agrees, and
  publishing if nobody disagrees within a week.


Dependencies

  The Working Group's deliverables are expected to depend on various
  other specifications, in particular DOM Core, DOM Events, the Window
  Object specification, XML, and XML Namespaces. However, given the
  timescales involved it is not expected that any particular
  coordination will be required.


Communication and Membership

  The group will operate completely in the open, using the public
  mailing list <www-html@w3.org>. Anybody may join the Working Group,
  whether or not they are W3C members. However, all members of the
  Working Group must agree to the W3C Patent Policy. On technical
  matters, all members of the Working Group will have equal
  footing. There is no minimum time commitment for participation to
  this Working Group.

  To be successful, the Working Group is expected to have active
  participation for its duration. If at any time less than three
  browser vendors are participating in the Working Group, its charter
  should be re-examined by the W3C.

  The Working Group will not have official meetings, but may discuss
  issues on a publicly announced and open IRC channel when convenient.

  W3C Member Companies that elect to join the Working Group, as well
  as any individuals granted W3C Invited Expert status by those member
  companies, have one additional privilege, described below under
  "decision policy".

  There are no W3C Member-only communication channels for this Working
  Group. (Specifically, the Working Group has no Member-only Web page,
  no Member-only mailing list, and no Member-only IRC channel.)


Workshops

  The Working Group may have face-to-face meetings, to be held no more
  than annually, at which issues may be discussed and proposals
  presented. Such meetings, if held, must be informal. No final
  decisions can be made at such meetings, as this would disenfranchise
  members of the Working Group who are unable to attend such meetings.


Decision Policy

  The Working Group will assign a chairman. The chairman is
  responsible for deciding when to publish snapshots of the
  deliverables (as described under "Expected Milestones" above), and
  for resolving conflicts, as described in this section.

  The Working Group will assign an editor for each deliverable, who
  has editorial control over that deliverable. Editors must base their
  work on the technical feedback of all the Working Group members.

  W3C Member Companies and W3C Invited Experts may request that a
  decision made by one of the editors be reversed. If this occurs, the
  chairman must post an e-mail to the Working Group's mailing list
  asking the other W3C Member Companies and W3C Invited Experts that
  are members of the Working Group to state their opinions. Each W3C
  Member Company and W3C Invited Experts may vote once, by sending an
  e-mail to the list stating their position. If a majority (more than
  half) of the votes collected in the week following the posting are
  in favour of reversing the editor's decision, the editor must make
  the required change or relinquish the editor position.

  This process is not expected to be used often. If it is used, the
  Working Group's charter should be re-examined by the W3C.


Relationship to the WHAT Working Group

  The Working Group is expected to work in collaboration with the
  WHATWG to produce identical specifications, preferably by having the
  same editor. This collaboration may cease if the two communities do
  not agree on technical matters. If this happens, the Working Group's
  charter should be re-examined by the W3C.

   
Patent Policy

  This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (5 February
  2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C
  seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented, according to
  this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis.

  For more information about disclosure obligations for this group,
  please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.


About this Charter

  This charter for the HTML Working Group has been created according
  to section 6.2 [1] of the Process Document [2]. In the event of a
  conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and
  the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.

  [1] http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/groups#GroupsWG
  [2] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Wednesday, 15 November 2006 02:09:35 UTC