W3C

W3C released today a Positive Work Environment Framework that includes a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and accompanying procedures. Both guidelines are now in effect and govern our work environment.

W3C is a growing and global community where participants from all horizons choose to work together. Our Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct defines a set of community principles and promotes high standards of professional practice. It also acts as a vehicle for better identity of the organization which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month.

The Social Web Working Group has published two First Public Working Drafts today:

• Activity Streams 2.0. This specification details a model for representing potential and completed activities using the JSON format.
• Activity Vocabulary. This specification describes the Activity vocabulary.

Learn more about the Social Activity.

The Efficient XML Interchange Working Group has published a Working Draft of Canonical EXI. Any EXI document is part of a set of EXI documents that are logically equivalent within an application context, but which vary in physical representation based on differences permitted by the Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0 (Second Edition). This specification describes a relatively simple method for generating a physical representation, the canonical form, of an EXI document that accounts for the permissible changes. An example of the applications targeted by this specification is one that needs to guarantee non-repudiation using XML Signature yet allows certain flexibility for intermediaries to reconstitute the documents before they reach final destination without breaking the signatures. Note that two documents may have differing canonical forms yet still be equivalent in a given context based on more elaborate application-specific equivalence rules which is out of scope of this specification. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity.

The Web Performance Working Group has published a Group Note of Resource Priorities. This specification defines a means for site developers to programmatically give the User Agent hints on the download priority of a resource, to allow User Agents to more efficiently manage the order in which resources are downloaded. This specification is no longer maintained and has been abandoned; refer to resource hints instead. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

The Web Applications Working Group has published two Working Drafts today:

• Streams API. WHATWG Streams API spec provides an API for representing and handling a stream of data in JavaScript. This W3C spec is intended to extend the WHATWG spec to meet requirements specific to the browser environment.
• The Screen Orientation API. The Screen Orientation API provides the ability to read the screen orientation type and angle, to be informed when the screen

Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

An updated Working Draft of HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives was published today by the HTML Working Group. This publication incorporates changes and corrections reflecting work since October 2012, but does not include pending bugs listed in the status section. An updated publication including more specifics on description of complex images and clarification of other guidance is expected in the near future. Comments are welcome. Learn more about the HTML Activity and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

W3C published today the report of the W3C Web Cryptography Next Steps: Authentication, Hardware Tokens and Beyond workshop held on 10-11 September, 2014, in Mountain View. Participants at the workshop expressed unanimous support for including standards-based access to hardware tokens in the charter of a future W3C Working Group or re-chartering of existing groups. Multi-factor and secure authentication are some of the driving use-cases. The discussion over chartering will take place on the Web Security public mailing list. W3C considers secure key storage and access to cryptographic operations important for the future of the Web. The fully booked Workshop was hosted by Microsoft, and sponsored by Google and Tyfone. Learn more about the Security Activity.

W3C announced today a new Web Payments Initiative to integrate payments seamlessly into the Open Web Platform. W3C calls upon all industry stakeholders –banks, credit card companies, governments, mobile network operators, payment solution providers, technology companies, retailers, and content creators– to join the new Payments Interest Group and leverage the unique ability of the Web to bridge ecosystem diversity and reach users everywhere, on any device. The result will be new business opportunities, an improved user experience for online transactions, reduced fraud, and increased interoperability among traditional solutions and future payment innovations. Read the full press release and testimonials from W3C Members, including Bloomberg, Gemalto, GRIN Technologies, Ingenico Group, NACS, Rabobank, and Yandex.