Charter
The current HTML working group charter was issued on 7 March 2007. The group is chartered to continue its work through 31 December 2010.
Milestones
This section records the schedule for HTML working-group deliverables, as well as milestones related to those deliverables.
- 2007-05 HTML5 and Web Forms 2.0 specs adopted as basis for review
- 2007-11 HTML Design Principles First Public Working Draft
- 2008-03 HTML5 First Public Working Draft
- 2008-06 HTML5 Last Call Working Draft
- 2008-09 HTML5 Candidate Recommendation
- 2010-06 HTML5 Proposed Recommendation
- 2010-09 HTML5 Recommendation
Note: The future dates in the above list are estimates based on the schedule in the charter and are subject to change.
Membership and Participation
The HTML working group encourages active participation from a diverse community, including content authors and content providers, web developers, implementors (of browsers, authoring tools, conformance checkers, etc.) and anyone interested in helping to evolve the HTML language. A full list of participants is available. A number of HTML working-group members answered a background experience and expertise survey.
By charter, we operate primarily by email (see public-html archive), supplemented by web-based surveys, occasional teleconferences, and up to two in-person meetings per year. Some participants supplement these with IRC discussion in the #html-wg channel on irc.w3.org (port 6665 or port 80), with public logs and an informal directory with names and timezones.
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy. The goal of this policy is to assure that Recommendations produced under this policy can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis.
Teleconferences
Teleconferences happen some Thursdays/Fridays at alternating times; an agenda is due to public-html-wg-announce 24 hours in advance; minutes follow within a day or two. See agenda planning page for details.
How to join
In order to carry out the Royalty Free policy, joining the HTML Working Group involves more than typical email subscription:
-
If you're affiliated with a
W3C member organization
- Use the form for getting a W3C account
- Have your AC representative nominate you using the form for joining this Working Group.
- Otherwise, the process involves getting an account and filling out a form for copyright, patent, etc. policies.
When you join, you will be subscribed to public-html, the publicly archived mailing-list for the group. Please use the tasks survey to let us know a little bit about yourself and which tasks you're most interested to help with.
This process is somewhat new and novel, and the discussion around it led us to develop Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Public Invited Experts in the W3C HTML Working Group. For example: I want to participate as an individual in the HTML Working Group but I work for a W3C Member. Why can't I join as an Invited Expert?
Note that www-html, a mailing list created in 1994 to discuss HTML, is still available for discussions related to HTML but not in the scope of this Working Group.
Patent Disclosures
W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent.
History
This section records significant events in the history (and prehistory) of the group.
2007-11
- public-html-comments list created.
- HTML Design Principles becomes FPWD (see news item)
- teleconferences 1 Nov, 16 Nov
- first face-to-face meetings at W3C 2007 TPAC in Boston
2007-09
- teleconferences 13 Sep, ...
2007-08
2007-07
2007-06
- survey results: What should the HTML WG publish first?; survey announced in toward W3C Working Draft: design principles? spec? other? Connolly 1 Jun
2007-05
- HTML WG at XTech 2007 by Karl Dubost
- Implementing an HTML5 conformance checker using XML tools by Henri Sivonen (commentary by Rick Jelliffe)
- HTML WG BoF at XTech 2007 wiki topic
- The future of HTML panel (photo
- XTech 2007: 5 minutes on HTML5 by Anne van Kesteren
- Blue Sky: Web Browser, Standards and Interop Summit, XTech Paris by Molly E. Holzschlag
- results of HTML 5 text, editor, name questions
- Decision process: Formal Objections and consensus in the W3C process
2007-04
2007-03
- Re: Scope of this group
- 23 Mar on consensus and decision-making
- Face to face meeting call for interest concluded, results (80 answers)
- Browser Wars Retrospective panel
- Meet the HTML Working Group chairs in Austin at SxSWi
- W3C Relaunches HTML Activity press release
- Architectural vision behind the HTML/XHTML2/Forms Chartering
- charter issued
2006-12
2006-11
- HTML and Forms Activities Proposals (Call for Review) to W3C Members
2006-10
- Reinventing HTML by Tim Berners-Lee