XSL-FO Workshop to Explore Requirements for Version 2.0

2006-09-13: The W3C Workshop on Gathering Requirements for Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) 2.0 will be held 18 October in Heidelberg, Germany at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. The XSL Working Group invites experts to discuss requirements, features and design for Version 2.0 of the formatting part of the Extensible Stylesheet Language also called XSL-FO. The Workshop is colocated with the Print Symposium. Read the press release, about W3C Workshops and about the XML Activity. (News archive)

Last Call: VoiceXML 2.1

2006-09-15: The Voice Browser Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.1. Comments are welcome through 6 October. Fully backwards-compatible with VoiceXML 2.0, version 2.1 standardizes eight additional features implemented by VoiceXML platforms: data, disconnect, grammar, foreach, mark, property, script, and transfer. Refer to the summary for changes since Candidate Recommendation, including modification of the foreach element. Visit the voice browser home page. (News archive)

Canonical XML and Digital Signatures: Working Drafts Published

2006-09-15: In order to address the impact of the xml:id W3C Recommendation, the XML Core Working Group has released the following three First Public Working Drafts to update Canonical XML to version 1.1 and to provide guidelines on using it with XML digital signatures. Canonical XML and XML signatures can ensure the integrity of data traveling between XML processors, crucial in applications like electronic commerce. Visit the XML home page. (News archive)

• Known Issues with Canonical XML 1.0 (C14N/1.0)
• Using XML Digital Signatures in the 2006 XML Environment
• Canonical XML 1.1

Note: Developing Multimodal User Interfaces

2006-09-11: The Multimodal Interaction Working Group has published Common Sense Suggestions for Developing Multimodal User Interfaces as a Working Group Note. Written for interface designers and developers, the suggestions are based on several years experience developing multimodal applications. The four principles described are: satisfying real-world constraints, communication with users, helping users recover from errors, and making users comfortable. Read about multimodal interaction. (News archive)

Last Call: XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0

2006-09-08: The Web Application Formats Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of XML Binding Language (XBL) 2.0, a technology for extending the appearance and behavior of elements in Web formats such as HTML. Comments are welcome through 7 December. With XBL, elements may be mapped to script, event handlers, CSS, and more complex content models. Content can be re-ordered and wrapped so that, for instance, complex CSS styles can be applied to simple HTML or XHTML markup. XBL can be used to implement new DOM interfaces, and, with other specifications, to implement arbitrary tag sets as widgets. Read about the Rich Web Clients Activity. (News archive)

XML Query Test Suite 1.0 Released

2006-09-08: The XML Query Working Group has released version 1.0 of the XML Query Test Suite (XQTS). With this release there are over 15,000 test cases. The Working Group is asking implementors to submit results in September (anonymously if necessary) to help demonstrate that the XML Query 1.0 specification can be implemented interoperably and is ready to move forward to Proposed Recommendation. Visit the XML home page. (News archive)

WebCGM 2.0 Is a Candidate Recommendation

2006-09-06: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of WebCGM 2.0 to Candidate Recommendation. Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is an ISO standard for the interchange of 2D vector and mixed vector/raster graphics. WebCGM is a profile of CGM, which adds Web linking and is optimized for Web applications in technical illustration, documentation, data visualization and similar fields. Version 2.0 adds DOM access to WebCGM objects, adds an XML Companion File (XCF) for external data, and extends graphical and intelligent content. Comments and implementation reports are welcome through 6 October. Six implementations of WebCGM 2.0 are already available. Read more about WebCGM. (News archive)

Print Symposium to Focus on Web Standards

2006-09-01: The W3C Germany and Austria Office is pleased to present the W3C Print Symposium 2006 on 17 October at the Heidelberg Print Media Academy in Heidelberg, Germany. Klaas Bals, Bert Bos, Håkon Wium Lie, Chris Lilley, Liam Quin, Thomas Tikwinski, Andrew Shellshear, and a representative of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG will present on W3C print technologies including XSL, XSLT, SVG Print, CSS Paged Media and XHTML Print. The event is colocated with the XSL-FO Workshop on 18 October and there will be an opportunity to meet the XSL Working Group. A student discount is offered. Symposium registration is open, and is free for W3C Members. (Photo credit: Thomas Tikwinski. News archive)