After the success of W3C Breakouts Day 2024, the World Wide Web Consortium is organizing another ‘remote breakout session event’ called W3C Breakouts Day 2025, which takes place on 26 March (UTC). At these events, participants organize discussion among the full W3C community about new or existing Web and W3C topics.
Below are the descriptions of the breakouts scheduled
between and
(13:00–15:00 UTC)
Browser experience of ActivityPub social networking
Proposer
Evan Prodromou
Description
A breakout session to discuss how browser users can interact with ActivityPub-enabled people and objects on the Web. For example: following people, liking and commenting on text or images.
Goals
Investigate how browser users can interact with ActivityPub-enabled people and objects on the Web and define next steps
This session will explore how to diversify the ecosystem of Web user agents by enabling profile applications to increase efficiency and optimize user experience on Web and WebView-based apps while maintaining compatibility with existing standards and the One-Web principle.
Background
In early January, W3C organized the WebAI and High-Performance Web Application Technology seminar for the Chinese community. One of the outcomes of the discussions was the launch of a new CG to support more variety and more performant Web user agents.
The CG aims to diversify the ecosystem of Web user agents by enabling profile standards to increase efficiency and optimize user experience on Web and WebView-based apps while maintaining compatibility with existing standards. Standard profiles and modularity might ease the design and implementation of lighter and more efficient engines for specific-scenario purposes when a full-fledged (embedded) browser is not required (e.g., MiniApps, WoT edge apps, and apps for wearables or constrained infotainment systems) and may serve as common ground for cross-platform development frameworks.
Package distribution strategies should be considered in conjunction with profile standards to ensure optimal content presentation across diverse platforms. Profile standards should be built with mobile-friendly features by default, ensuring a superior user experience and leveraging the unique capabilities of mobile devices.
The CG was titled High-Performance Baseline for Web Apps as a placeholder, but we know it could be misleading -also the initial description. In this breakout session, we would like to clarify the objectives and get the community's feedback to include these insights in the final chapter. The title, scope, and objectives will be discussed in this session.
Audience
This session welcomes vendors of embedded browsers, hybrid cross-platform app frameworks, JS engines, and others interested in exploring the modularity of the Web standards. We aim to collect use cases where standard profiles help enrich the Web ecosystem by opening new possibilities in unexplored scenarios and supporting innovation on the Web while protecting the principles of One-Web and interoperability.
We also want close alignment with other incubation groups working on similar topics (i.e., WebViews CG, WebDX, WinterTC) and bi-directional conversations with core standardization groups for advice and pushing for new standardization requirements while avoiding fragmentation.
Simplifying Site Navigation: A Standardized Approach for Accessible Destinations
Proposer
Matthew Atkinson, Abhinav Kumar
Description
Website visitors often expect and seek familiar pages such as contact us, login, or shopping cart. But navigating websites can be a challenge, especially for users who find complex layouts and variable terminology difficult. Building on last year’s feedback, this session from WAI-Adapt Task Force introduces a fresh, semantic approach to navigation that leverages HTML link relation types to define such well known destinations on any page. We will also demo our updated browser extension which embodies this new strategy— simplifying navigation without compromising on design.
We will also facilitate discussion on open challenges identified by the Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force (COGA) regarding the clear presentation of destination types. For example, a help resource may be categorized as a “Virtual Advisor,” “Email Helpline,” or “Call Support.” The goal is to ensure that users can simply understand the nature of each option and set accurate expectations before engagement.
Goals
Highlight the challenge; Showcase solutions; and Engage the community
Agenda
Understanding Navigation Barriers: A brief look at navigation challenges and why consistency matters.
Demo: Walkthrough of our updated browser extension employing the new semantic approach.
WAI-Adapt’s Proposed Solution: Explanation of our approach based on standardizing navigation declarations using HTML link elements and how it builds on last year’s feedback.
Interactive Discussion: Brainstorming on open concerns from COGA to present various type of destinations to users.
Next Steps: Inviting feedback and outlining plans for horizontal and wide community review.
W3C Global meetings structure - Focus on AC meetings
Proposer
Alexandra Lacourba
Description
W3C, in conjunction with the AB, is looking at its Events strategy. The Events strategy consists of aligning each event to the global objectives of the Consortium. Each event needs to fulfill a specific goal which serves W3C, their Members and the community.
Meetings are organized for specific reasons and goals. In general, meeting are organized for different purposes:
Gather targeted stakeholders to move forward on some problematic
Inform and explain
Make decisions
Create interactions between participants
We will focus this discussion on the AC meetings: The participation to these meetings has significantly decreased when the hybrid mode has been re-initiated in 2023, after the pandemic. The goal of the meeting may not be inline with the expectations anymore. We are then looking at restructuring this meeting and need to hear from our community.
Goals
Gather feedback from the W3C Members and AC Reps to come up with a restructuring proposal
Agenda
Presentation of the context
Gathering feedback (questions will be available to target the discussion)
As a significant development since the release of AI & the Web W3C Team report, Machine Learning models, and in particular Large Language Models (LLMs), are increasing deployed to complement and sometimes radically transform how users interact with the Web.
In this session, after a quick introduction of the various ways these new AI agents are being surfaced today, we will have an open discussion on how this new paradigm may change the platform itself, and what (if anything) we should do as a community to prepare its potential impact on Web standards.
Goals
Build shared understanding of impact of AI agents on the Web Platform
In this episode, we will therefore focus on a specific model about the step of Presenting Credentials on the Web, asking ourselves: What are we working on? What can go wrong? What are we going to do about it? Did we do a good job?
This breakout is intended to be a collaborative, working session. The focus will be on gaining consensus on threats and mitigations.
Goals
The focus will be on gaining consensus on the mitigations.
As a member elected body, the Advisory Board has been playing a unique and important role in W3C community since 1998. It not only provides ongoing guidance to W3C Team on various topics, forms the Council with the TAG to handle formal objections, and also leads the development of several key W3C polices, such as Vision document, Process Document, Code of Conduct, etc.
With W3C Inc up and running as a new legal entity since Jan 1 2023, W3C has built its new governance structure. The W3C Board of Directors have ultimate authority on W3C's strategic direction and have fiduciary responsibility over W3C Inc as a whole.
Given this background, it is time for the Advisory Board to work with the W3C community and revisit its purpose.
Goals
To seek members input about the purpose of the AB, the unique values that the AB can bring to the W3C community, the expectations/suggestions/comments for the AB.
web-features and Baseline - We're feature complete! What's next?
Proposer
Patrick Brosset
Description
The WebDX Community Group has done a lot of work in 2024 to increase the coverage of its web-features data. Now that the data roughly covers the entire web platform feature set, let's review the work done so far, the use cases that web-features, and Baseline, have unlocked, and let's open it up for discussion on the next important questions to tackle: how to maintain the web-features data over time, as the web platform evolves, keeping in mind web developers' best interest at heart.
Goals
To update participants on WebDX, the work we've done so far, the use cases we've unlocked thanks to the data, and the open questions that are next for us to solve. To ask the audience for input into these open questions.
Below are the breakouts scheduled
between and
(21:00–23:00 UTC)
Approximate geolocation
Proposer
Matthew Reynolds
Description
Discuss a proposal to extend Geolocation API to introduce the concepts of approximate and precise location data.
Sharing precise location information puts the user's privacy at risk as it can reveal sensitive information about the user's personal life such as home address, workplace, or place of worship. However, users may still wish to share location information to enable a more localized experience or facilitate a transaction. Approximate information about the user's location (for instance, a postal code) has a lower privacy risk and is typically sufficient for most applications. Extending Geolocation API to support approximate location would empower users to protect their location privacy and enable sites to request safer defaults when precise location is not needed.
Revisiting in-band text tracks in MediaSource Extensions
Proposer
Alicia Boya Garcia
Description
The MediaSource Extensions (MSE) spec has included in-band text tracks since the first published working draft, but that part of the spec have lacked browser adoption for a very long time.
Recently, WebKit has added experimental support for in-band text tracks in MSE. Work on this has highlighted a number of challenges in bytestream formats and the MSE specifications.
The purpose of this breakout session is to gather together, discuss those challenges and come to agreement on the direction to tackle them in the MSE specifications.
Goals
Clarify some finer points about how in-band text tracks in MSE should work and define next steps for improvements in the specifications.
Agenda
Basic familiarity with MediaSource Extensions is expected for attendees.
To make the session easier to follow, the session will start with a very brief introduction of specific formats that will be relevant for the discussions, such as:
WebVTT in ISO BMFF (MP4)
WebVTT in WebM: S_TEXT/WEBVTT and D_WEBVTT/kind
After that introduction, a number of topics will be discussed. For each topic there is at least one question that we hope to answer.
Cues vs samples vs MSE coded frames
Should the MSE spec refer explicitly to cues, and if so, how?
Would it be desirable for MSE to have a concept of sparse stream gaps? Could the bytestream formats allow it?
The SourceBuffer with only a text track problem
Use cases other than text tracks
Embedded CEA/CTA-608/708 signalling
Would support of embedded CTA-708 in MSE be desirable?
What would be the best way to accomodate embedded text tracks like this?
Cues across segment boundaries: ISO BMFF, WebM and processing in MSE
Should the MSE spec mandate cues are extended instead of duplicated?
Should the MSE spec mandate that when cues are extended, they are updated and "oncuechange" is emitted, instead of removed and re-added?
MSE WebM bytestream: are the current WebVTT representations acceptable for MSE?
Should we advocate for any specific improvements?
Should the MSE WebM bytestream spec be updated to refer to any specific WebVTT representation?
Interested parties are encouraged to call attention to any other existing challenges with in-band text tracks in MSE and the related technologies.
This list is not final and given the limited time, it may not be possible to cover all the topics, much less agree on answers for most of the questions. These discussions can still serve as a starting point for later work in the working groups.
SVG has been around almost as long as the need for a web vector format has existed. Today, SVG browser support is passable, but there are gaps in that support and performance could be much better. It’s proposed as an Interop focus each year, and each year it gets turned down. What are the factors that make it so difficult to get implementor love for SVG, and how can we change things for the better?
Goals
Brainstorm ways to change the narrative and overcome inertia
Session to talk about how we document web technologies and how we could create more positive feedback loops between specifications and technical docs (on MDN, and generally).
Goals
Get technical writers and specification authors talking and discuss setting up a space where we could meet more frequently.
Collect feedback on the idea of setting up a W3C Documentation Community Group (Docs CG) as outlined in
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rLt1wT_y7OF9VINVGFj9U5x2C_z9_3aZeOtMh-p_Qf8/edit
Agenda
Florian to introduce and present the Docs CG proposal
Collective funding, governance and prioritization of a browser engine projects
Proposer
Brian Kardell, Stephanie Stimac
Description
Today, each of the three main, open source browser engine projects have a steward organization which contribute, by far, the lion's share of the project's commits - 75-95%. They also take on the infrastructure around it, both physical an managerial. They decide how to allocate available resources. Other contributors add wildly varying levels of contributions, but in all cases it is dictated by them toward work that they decide.
But we are beginning to explore some other ideas involving pools of money: The Chromium Fund, Igalia's Open Prioritization and now whole engines like Servo and Ladybird. In this breakout session we'll discuss what we're exploring, questions that are arising and how to deal with new challenges.
Goals
To discuss the challenges and brainstorm ideas toward greater collective ownership
For people who are blind or have low vision, identifying dynamic changes (non-user-initiated) in the content of a web app is very challenging. ARIA live regions are the only mechanism available today that communicate content changes down to the accessibility layer so that users can hear about them.
ARIA live regions are inconsistently implemented, have poor developer ergonomics, and are being used in ways that they weren't designed for (e.g., as a confirmation of action or notification-like API for changes unrelated to "live regions"). We propose an imperative notification API designed to replace the usage of ARIA live regions in scenarios where a visual "live region" isn't necessary.
This talk will provide an overview of the proposed solution, AriaNotify, what will be included in the first version of the API, and what functionality we are hoping to work with ATs to unblock improved notification handling for authors and end users.
Understanding how web communities use geotagged video is key to identifying missing features and ensuring that users' requirements are properly addressed.
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