CDF Working Group Charter
The mission of the W3C Compound Document Formats Working Group is to continue to develop specifications which combine selected existing document formats from the W3C and elsewhere, and which specify the runtime behavior of such combined documents.
The need for this group arises from the increasing demand for certain document formats that mix existing W3C formats, either by reference or by inclusion. To address this need, the Compound Document Formats Working Group will create a framework and a set of specific combinations of technologies, known as technology profiles (as distinct from User Agent profiles). The goal of this working group is to identify the most common and most useful combinations of existing technologies, and to describe the syntax, interfaces, and interaction where that behavior is currently undefined.
The primary goal is to define the details of SVG and MathML in both XHTML and HTML, and of X/HTML in SVG, in a single-file mixed-language document, which is a central market need for browsers and UIs across desktop, mobile, and embedded devices. Also important are mixing lesser-known, but potential-rich, languages such as SMIL, SCXML, XForms, and VoiceXML. For example, the SMIL timing model is used extensively in SVG, and can also work in XHTML via Timesheets, and can be combined with SCXML and XForms for rich user interfaces; defining how such combinations of technologies integrate will promote their use and usefulness, as well as making implementation easier through clear and comprehensive test suites.
The main markets that the CDF WG will address are those with an existing investment in some combination of current Web formats, such as XHTML, HTML, SVG, and CSS; these include desktop Web browsers, mobile phones (both mass-market and feature phones), Interactive Television and Consumer Electronics (set-top boxes), and content creators and consumers in the scientific, technical, engineering and educational sectors.
With the WICD framework and Compound Document By Reference completed, the focus of activity will be Compound Document By Inclusion. Given the recent activity in non-XML HTML, the CDF WG will devote significant attention to inclusion of other languages in HTML as well as XHTML.
| End date | 31 May 2010 |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Proceedings are public |
| Initial Chairs | CHAIR INFO |
| Team Contact (FTE %: 15) |
Doug Schepers (W3C/Keio) |
| Usual Meeting Schedule | Teleconferences: Weekly Face-to-face: 3-4 per year |
Scope
The scope of the Compound Document Formats Working Group covers the technologies related to combining existing documents formats, either by reference or by inclusion.
As described above, it is within scope to create a new document format that combines existing W3C formats to address industry needs, including a manifest format. It is also within scope to create new technologies that apply to the possible new complications that arise from combining formats. Furthermore, it is within scope to define solutions for accessing and manipulating the formats developed by this group, using a DOM API through both scripting and compiled programming languages.
The architectural constraints on the work are:
- compatible with the principles of Architecture of the World Wide Web
- compatible with and complementary to existing Web content and browsers
- meet the needs of the user community and industry
- actively incorporates feedback from content developers and user community
- be widely implementable in browsers and authoring tools
- be as simple as possible in order to foster implementability and testability
- make appropriate use of other W3C specifications
- support programming compound documents and handle document events in both scripting and imperative languages
Technical Items
- Specifications for combining W3C technologies, such as SMIL, SVG, MathML, and XML Events, with XHTML or HTML by reference.
- Specifications for combining W3C technologies, such as XHTML, HTML, XML Events, CSS, SVG, MathML, RDF, GRRDL, XBL2, SMIL, Timesheets, WAI ARIA, InkML, SCXML, VoiceXML, and XForms, into a single document by inclusion.
Note that with so many potential useful combinations of technologies, the interests of the active participants will drive the work on precisely which vocabularies and profiles receive the most concentration and consideration.
Testing
- Clear conformance criteria for any specifications.
- Development and publication of a comprehensive test suite for any of the group's deliverables.
- Publication of implementation reports associated with the test suites.
Tracking
- Collect errata and periodically publish new editions for any of the Group's Recommendations
- Gather requirements for subsequent versions of any of the Group's Recommendations
Success Criteria
- Production of stable documents addressing the work items.
- Availability of multiple, independent, interoperable implementations and authoring tools, including implementations for Desktop PCs, Mobile Computing, and potentially Embedded Computing, and Interactive TV.
- User community and Industry adoption of the group deliverables.
- Production of a comprehensive test suite for each of the deliverables.
Out of Scope
It is not within scope to create a new document format for an specific purpose, where the new format does not consist of a combination of existing W3C formats. For example, it is not within scope to create a markup language for text documents (where it overlaps with HTML), graphics (where it overlaps with SVG), styling (where it overlaps with CSS), or timing and synchronization (where it overlaps with SMIL).
Also not in scope are issues of the general case for universal integration of all XML langauges, which is under consideration by the Technical Advisory Group. The experience gathered by this work is expected to inform TAG issue mixedUIXMLNamespace-33 but is not expected to solve the entire issue by itself.
Deliverables
The working group will deliver at least the following:
- A document listing use cases for compound documents and requirements for document formats that combine existing W3C Document Formats (UC&R).
- A Recommendation or Recommendations for combining existing W3C Document Formats by reference (CDR). Web Interactive Compound Documents (WICD) was produced in the previous charter period as was the CDR Framework.
- A Recommendation or Recommendations for combining existing W3C Document Formats by inclusion (CDI):
- CDI Framework
- CDI X/HTML+SVG
- CDI X/HTML+MathML
- Compound Documents Manifest
- Conformance test suites for the above deliverables.
Milestones
A tentative schedule of expected milestones is given below. All milestones are dependent on the outcome of the requirements and what the Working Group believes is the appropriate timeframe.
Milestones
Specification transition estimates and other milestones. Already completed milestones are styled like this
| Note: The group will document significant changes from this initial schedule on the group home page. | ||||||
| Specification | FPWD | LC | CR | PR | Rec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDR UC&R | Nov 05 | - | - | - | - | |
| CDR | Oct 05 | Nov 06 | Jul 07 | Jul 08 | Oct 08 | |
| CDI UC&R | Aug 08 | - | - | - | - | |
| CDI | Aug 08 | Mar 09 | Jul 09 | Jan 10 | Mar 10 | |
| CDM | Jan 09 | Jun 09 | Sep 09 | Mar 10 | Jun 10 | |
Dependencies and Liaisons
Dependencies
The Web Applications Working Group is not aware of any direcr Web Applications Working Group specifications that depend upon specifications developed by other groups, though there are some dependencies between current Web Applications Working Group specifications.
Liaisons
The Working Group has to work closely with other groups at W3C, especially those developing document formats:
- Hypertext Coordination Group:
- The Hypertext Coordination Group has the responsibility to ensure that all the W3C Working Group creating Document specifications review each other's work. The Compound Document Formats Working Group will be represented on the Hypertext Coordination Group.
- Web Applications Working Group:
- The WebApps WG has many deliverables, including APIs, languages, and packaging formats that can be used in combination with many different technologies. To ensure that these deliverables are suitable for a broad range of technologies, and to help integrate how they work together, this group will work closely with the WebApps WG.
- W3C Groups developing document formats:
- Including the HTML, XHTML2, CSS, Math, SMIL, XForms, Voice, and SVG Working Groups. The Compound Document Formats Working Group will produce technology based on the products of these Working Groups, it is essential that there is a close working relationship.
- Multimodal Interaction Working Group:
- The Multimodal Interaction Working Group faces many similar problems. A close collaboration with the MMI WG is needed.
- Math Interest Group:
- Many scientific and technical documents use MathML, and the community has an interest in compound document issues.
- Multimodal Interaction Working Group:
- The Multimodal Interaction Working Group faces many similar problems. A close collaboration with the MMI WG is needed.
- Internationalization Working Group:
- The Working Group will cooperate with the I18N Working Group.
- Web Accessibility Initiative:
- The Working Group will cooperate with WAI to ensure that all work meets the W3C accessibility goals.
The following is a tentative list of external bodies the Working Group should collaborate with:
- 3GPP:
- Some of the outputs of this Working Group are technologies that could be endorsed by 3GPP.
- OMA:
- Some of the outputs of this Working Group are technologies that could be endorsed by OMA.
- JCP:
- Some of the outputs of this Working Group are technologies that could be used in Java Community Process Expert Groups.
- DVD Forum:
- Some of the technologies developed here should be applicable to the DVD Forum, or other related industry bodies (such as BlueRay).
Furthermore, the CDF Working Group expects to follow these W3C Recommendations: