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It's been a long road. I first started working with the W3C and
it's XHTML2 (then HTML) Working Group on 27 August 1998. At the
time, I didn't know that it would become the work of 12+ years.
Sure, I had been involved in standards for a long time. I started
with the IEEE POSIX activity before it was even called POSIX
(anyone remember IEEEIX?) - sometime in 1985. That hobby spiraled
into a career, and has served me very, very well.
So, it is with some regret that I look to the end of my work on
XHTML at the W3C. We did a lot of good work. Some of that work has
been overcome by events, of course. This industry never sits still.
But, for the record, here are some of the important things this
activity developed and delivered:
HTML 4.01 - last updated
in 1999, but still the basis of most of the web.
XHTML 1.0 - the first
baby step toward a well-formed, valid web. At its inception, we
were all convinced that XML would rule the world, and HTML needed
to be based upon XML if it was to survive. We were a little bit
wrong.
XHTML Media
Types - a Note that explained how to deliver the new XHTML
documents to legacy user agents. Still relevant and widely used
today. We have a small update for it that might still get published
- you can see it here.
XHTML
Modularization - a set of building blocks and rules that
language designers could use. M12N is the basis for many activities
within and outside of the W3C. It continues to be used all over the
place. It started out being used only for XML DTDs, but was
expanded to XML Schema (finally published recently, but complete
for many years). In the next weeks we will release a final
installment of this, XHTML
Modularization for RelaxNG.
XML Events - a
declarative way to define events and bind them to elements and
observers. It's first version was published by the XHTML activity.
It has now been taken over by the XForms activity. I hope that they
will get XML Events
2 out the door at some point.
XHTML 1.1 - a tight,
XML-centric version of XHTML based upon XHTML Modularization. We
published an update to this last week, but it is a stable grammar
that can be used anywhere. It is also the basis for many extended
XHTML Grammars. The update last week makes it possible to validate
using XML Schema, and also to use the 'lang' attribute to improve
use of XHTML 1.1 documents by assistive technologies.
XHTML Basic - a
version of XHTML targeted at the mobile community.
XHTML Print - a
version of XHTML targeted at rendering consistently on
printers.
XForms - an independent
activity, but one that started within the XHTML activity.
XHTML+RDFa - another
independent activity. Originally a joint task force of the XHTML2
and Semantic Web working groups. The latest version builds up this
early work, but continues to take advantage of XHTML Modularization
for its definitions.
CURIEs - a compact
expression syntax for URIs. Used by RDFa, but also potentially by
other specifications that need to readily reference resources
without using long URIs in attributes.
The Role Attribute
module - an independent module to add a role attribute. Useful
for accessibility, but also for general semantic notation. This
work has been taken on by the Protocols and Formats Working
Group.
The Access module -
an independent module to add an access element. This element would
allow binding of 'keys' and events to elements. The original module
has no owner, but the general work has been picked up by the
Protocols and Formats Working Group.
XHTML 2 - a sweeping
revision of XHTML. This work was never completed, but will be
published in its current state as a Note.
XHTML
Modularization 2.0 - an update to the modularization framework
to accompany XHTML 2.
XFrames - an improvement
on traditional HTML framesets.
XHTML 1.2 -
a version of XHTML that added the role attribute, the access
element, RDFa, and ARIA. This was never a formal deliverable, but
was a logical extension of the work.
Wow. I have never typed that all out before! Along the way we
developed an entire publication infrastructure, including our own
internal markup language (xhtmlspec) for annotating sources. I am
proud to have served with my colleagues on this activity. I think
we did solid work. While some of this work will never come to
fruition, most of it was and will continue to be used throughout
the internet every day.
I will of course continue to work with this community going
forward. I remain active in the RDFa and Protocols and Formats
activity. I hope to assist ISO in its publication of the RelaxNG
Modularization framework. And I am keeping an eye out for the next
interesting 12 year project. And no, it's not HTML5!
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