W3C

The Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG) today published the updated Last Call Working Draft of WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide, which describes how browsers and other user agents should support WAI-ARIA (the Accessible Rich Internet Applications specification); specifically, how to expose WAI-ARIA features to platform accessibility APIs. Comments are welcome through 6 December. Learn more in the call for review e-mail and read about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of CSS Syntax Module Level 3. This module describes, in general terms, the basic structure and syntax of CSS stylesheets. It defines, in detail, the syntax and parsing of CSS – how to turn a stream of bytes into a meaningful stylesheet. CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, in speech, etc. Comments are welcome through 17 December. Learn more about the Style Activity.

The XML Processing Model Working Group has published a Working Draft of XProc V2.0 Requirements. This is the usability improvement requirements document for XProc V2.0, based on user and implementor experience with XProc. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity.

The RDF Working Group today published five Candidate Recommendations for version 1.1 of the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a widespread and stable technology for data interoperability:

• RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax defines the basics which underly all RDF syntaxes and systems. It provides for general data interoperability.
• RDF 1.1 Semantics defines the precise semantics of RDF data, supporting use with a wide range of “semantic” or “knowledge” technologies.
• RDF 1.1 N-Triples defines a simple line-oriented syntax for serializing RDF data. N-Triples is a minimalist subset of Turtle.
• RDF 1.1 TriG defines an extension to Turtle (aligned with SPARQL) for handling multiple RDF Graphs in a single document.
• RDF 1.1 N-Quads defines an extension to N-Triples for handling multiple RDF Graphs in a single document.

All of these technologies are now stable and ready to be widely implemented. Each specification (except Concepts) has an associated Test Suite and includes a link to an Implementation Report showing how various software currently fares on the tests. If you maintain RDF software, please review these specifications, update your software if necessary, and (if relevant) send in test results as explained in the Implementation Report.

RDF 1.1 is a refinement to the 2004 RDF specifications, designed to simplify and improve RDF without breaking existing deployments.

Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

The Government Linked Data (GLD) Working Group today published the Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) as a Candidate Recommendation. DCAT allows governmental and non-governmental data catalogs to publish their entries in a standard machine-readable format so they can be managed, aggregated, and presented in other catalogs.

Originally developed at DERI, DCAT has evolved with input from a variety of stakeholders and is now stable and ready for widespread use. If you have a collection of data sources, please consider publishing DCAT metadata for it, and if you run a data catalog or portal, please consider making use of DCAT metadata you find. The Working Group is eager to receive comments reports of use at public-gld-comments@w3.org and is maintaining an Implementation Report.

Learn more about the eGovernment Activity.

The RDF Working Group has published two Proposed Recommendations today:

• JSON-LD 1.0. JSON is a useful data serialization and messaging format. This specification defines JSON-LD, a JSON-based format to serialize Linked Data. The syntax is designed to easily integrate into deployed systems that already use JSON, and provides a smooth upgrade path from JSON to JSON-LD. It is primarily intended to be a way to use Linked Data in Web-based programming environments, to build interoperable Web services, and to store Linked Data in JSON-based storage engines. Comments are welcome through 05 December.
• JSON-LD 1.0 Processing Algorithms and API. This specification defines a set of algorithms for programmatic transformations of JSON-LD documents. Restructuring data according to the defined transformations often dramatically simplifies its usage. Furthermore, this document proposes an Application Programming Interface (API) for developers implementing the specified algorithms. Comments are welcome through 05 December.

Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.