ISO/IEC 15445 a.k.a ISO-HTML

Status Report

• Developed by ISO/IEC JTC1/WG4. Editors are David M Abrahamson, NSAI (Ireland) Roger Price, Afnor (France)
• Final Committee Draft is at http://purl.org/NET/ISO+IEC.15445/FinalCD.html.
• User's Guide (not an ISO/IEC text) is at http://purl.org/NET/ISO+IEC.15445/Users-Guide.html.
• National Body approvals: Final CD -> DIS -> International Standard.
• ISO-HTML makes normative reference to the core of W3C HTML 4.0.
• Any document which conforms to ISO-HTML also conforms to the W3C Recommendation for HTML 4.0 (strict). I.e. ISO-HTML is a subset of HTML 4.0.

Key Features of ISO-HTML

• Stable core for W3C 4.0 Recommendation.
• Reinforce W3C text. ``recommends'' -> ``requires''. ``deprecates'' -> ``forbids''.
• Reinforce separation of content and style by excluding all elements such as FONT and attributes such as BGCOLOR.
• Distinguish between ``conforming'' and ``validating'' systems.
• Facilitate use of HTML when ISO/IEC International Standards are required, eg. government procurement.
• Provide basis for contracts which make reference to HTML.

Close cooperation between W3C and JTC1

• JTC1/WG4 is pleased to cooperate with W3C.
• JTC1/WG4 recognizes W3C's leadership role in HTML.
• JTC1/WG4 is optimistic about the long term future of HTML.
• JTC1/WG4 looks forward to continued close cooperation with W3C.

The Future of HTML

• Maintain stability in the core language (ie. features referenced in ISO-HTML).
• Pay more attention to issues concerning conformity and validation.
• As new features are introduced, phase out backward compatibility restrictions.
• Provide closer integration with cooperating standards (eg. CSS/2).