XML is Ten!

2008-02-12: Ten years ago, on 10 February 1998, W3C published Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. W3C is marking the ten-year anniversary of XML by celebrating "XML10" and extending thanks to the dedicated communities -- including people who have participated in W3C's XML groups and mailing lists, the SGML community, and xml-dev -- whose efforts have created a successful family of technologies based on the solid XML 1.0 foundation. The success of XML is a strong indicator of how dedicated individuals, working within the W3C Process, can engage with a larger community to produce industry-changing results. "Today we celebrate the success of open standards in preserving Web data from proprietary ownership," said Jon Bosak, who led the W3C Working Group that produced XML 1.0. Read the press release and testimonials. Send W3C a greeting and learn more about XML at W3C. (Permalink)

Note: Best Practices for XML Internationalization

2008-02-13: The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Working Group has published a Group Note of Best Practices for" height="11" src="/Icons/right" />WAI-ARIA for Accessible Rich Web Applications: First Public Working Drafts

2008-02-04: The Protocols and Formats Working Group published First Public Working Drafts of:

• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) Version 1.0 combines the two previously-published ARIA draft specifications: WAI-ARIA Roles, and WAI-ARIA States and Properties.
• WAI-ARIA Primer provides background on accessibility issues related to JavaScript, and introduces the technical approach used in WAI-ARIA.
• WAI-ARIA Best Practices describes how Web content developers can develop accessible rich Web applications using WAI-ARIA.

WAI-ARIA defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. An updated WAI-ARIA Roadmap was also published.

Additionally, the Education and Outreach Working Group published a new WAI-ARIA FAQ and updated WAI-ARIA Overview. Read the Call for Review: New WAI-ARIA Documents announcement and about the Web Accessibility Initiative. (Permalink)

W3C Talks in February

2008-02-01: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)

• 4 February, New Delhi, India: Web Accessibility: International Standards for Local Users.Shadi Abou-Zahra gives a keynote at Techshare India 2008.
• 5 February, Tokyo, Japan: HTML 5.Michael(tm) Smith presents at Jagat.
• 11 February, Wellington, New Zealand: Achieving Web for All: Improving the Accessibility, Usability, and Quality of Your Website.Shawn Henry gives a tutorial at Webstock 2008.
• View upcoming talks by country
• More talks...