W3C Invites Implementations of W3C XML Schema Definition Language 1.1 (Parts 1 and 2)

The XML Schema Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation s XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) 1.1 Part 1: Structures and XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) 1.1 Part 2: Datatypes. The first document specifies the XML Schema Definition Language, which offers facilities for describing the structure and constraining the contents of XML documents, including those which exploit the XML Namespace facility. The schema language, which is itself represented in an XML vocabulary and uses namespaces, substantially reconstructs and considerably extends the capabilities found in XML document type definitions (DTDs). This specification depends on XML Schema Definition Language 1.1 Part 2: Datatypes, which defines facilities for defining datatypes to be used in XML Schemas as well as other XML specifications. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity.

User Agent Accesibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0 Draft Published

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0. UAAG defines how browsers, media players, and other "user agents" should support accessibility for people with disabilities and work with assistive technologies. The Working Group also published an updated Working Draft of Implementing UAAG 2.0. Read the invitation to review the UAAG 2.0 Working Draft and about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Learn HTML and CSS with w3Schools
Learn JavaScript and Ajax with w3Schools

Internationalization Checker Updated

The i18n checker is a free service from W3C that provides information about internationalization-related aspects of your HTML page and advice on creating markup that supports the multilingual Web. This latest release uses a new user interface and redesigned source code. It also adds a number of new tests, a file upload facility, and support for HTML5. This is still a 'pre-final' release and development continues. There are already plans to add further tests and features, to translate the user interface, to add support for XHTML5 and polyglot documents, to integrate with the W3C Unicorn checker, and to add various other features. At this stage we are particularly interested in receiving user feedback. Learn more about Web Internationalization.

Learn HTML and CSS with w3Schools
Learn JavaScript and Ajax with w3Schools

Optimizing Meta Data

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets
SEO Made Simple (Second Edition): Strategies For Dominating The World's Largest Search Engine
Search Engine Optimization: Do It Yourself - Kindle Bestseller (The Definitive Do It Yourself Guide to SEO)

Title tags are the most critical Meta Tag and are the only tags that will influence SEO. Title tags have a direct effect on search engine relevancy and ranking. Make sure that your keywords appear in your Title tag.

1. Character Limits – 65 or less. Including spaces. Sorry folks, if you write more your title will end with a “…” Some cases you can have up to 70 characters but just play it safe and stick with 65.
2. Keywords and key phrases – Make titles page specific. Use longer key phrases where possible. The more relevant your title is to content the better your pages will  rank, and obviously higher rank = more traffic.
3. H1 tag – Repeat your title tag in your headline. This will help with relevancy and communicate clearly that the audience has landed on the correct page.

The description will appear underneath the title tag on the search engine results page. The keyword being searched will appear  bolded when contained in the description tag or title tag.

1. Character Limits – Google will only display up to 160 characters included spaces  when it comes to descriptions. Yahoo and MSN will display a little more (165 and up to 3 lines) but stick with 160 as a max.
2. Visibility and Click through rate – Remember to sell to the audience. Use the title and description to hook visitors. It’s like a great commercial.
3. Visitors are not stupid – Tell the truth. Visitors will leave if your title and description do not match your actual web content.
4. Universal Descriptions – Do not do it. If the site content targets multiple keywords it is better to leave the description tag blank. Search engines will pull the keywords from the sites content and display the content that surrounds those keywords. These keywords will be bolded. Bolded information will always improve visibility and click through rate. Use discretion when using the description tag.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): An Hour a Day
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies

Last Call: API for Media Resources 1.0

The Media Annotations Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of API for Media Resources 1.0. This specification defines an API to access metadata information related to media resources on the Web. The overall purpose is to provide developers with convenient access to metadata information stored in different metadata formats. The API provides means to access the set of metadata properties defined in the Ontology for Media Resources 1.0 specification. Comments are welcome through 07 August. Learn more about the Video in the Web Activity.


Learn HTML and CSS with w3Schools
XQuery from the Experts: A Guide to the W3C XML Query Language
XML Schema: The W3C's Object-Oriented Descriptions for XML

CSS Drafts Updated: CSSOM; CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Module Level 3

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published Working Drafts of CSSOM and CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Module Level 3. CSSOM defines APIs (including generic parsing and serialization rules) for Media Queries, Selectors, and CSS itself. The latter specification First, it defines the syntax for image values in CSS. It also defines properties used to control the interaction of replaced content and the CSS layout algorithms. These properties can affect the used image resolution for bitmaps, the replaced object's orientation, and whether and how to preserve the object's aspect ratio. Learn more about the Style Activity.

Last Call: Web IDL

The Web Applications Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of Web IDL. This document defines an interface definition language, Web IDL, that can be used to describe interfaces that are intended to be implemented in Web browsers. Web IDL is an IDL variant with a number of features that allow the behavior of common script objects in the web platform to be specified more readily. How interfaces described with Web IDL correspond to constructs within ECMAScript and Java execution environments is also detailed in this document. It is expected that this document acts as a guide to implementors of already-published specifications, and that newly published specifications reference this document to ensure conforming implementations of interfaces are interoperable. Comments are welcome through 23 August. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

Registration Opens for W3C Training on Mobile Web and Application Best Practices (starts September)

W3C is pleased to announce that registration is now open for a second edition of the "W3C Introduction to Mobile Web and Application Best Practices." The online course can be taken in any time zone and will last 8 weeks, from 5 September to 28 October 2011. Developed and taught by the W3C/MobiWebApp team, the course is based entirely on W3C standards, particularly the Mobile Web Best Practices and Mobile Web Application Best Practices, all designed to help make great Web content available to as wide an audience as possible. On successful completion, participants receives a W3C Certificate of Completion. The full price of the course is €195 but we have a limited number of places available at the early bird rate of €145. See full details of the course. To ensure your place on the course, please register now.

Continuing Global Conversation on Key Issues in Web & TV Convergence: Third Workshop on Web and TV Scheduled

W3C announces the third in a series of Workshops on the Web and TV. The Third W3C Web and TV Workshop takes place in Hollywood, California, USA, 19-20 September 2011, hosted by Comcast Cable. In the previous two workshops (Tokyo Workshop and Berlin Workshop), participants identified opportunities for convergence of Web and TV infrastructure and began identifying technical challenges. This third workshop will continue these efforts, with a particular focus on the needs of content creators and distributors. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to discuss and debate some of the initial requirements arising in the Web and TV Interest Group that began its work in February 2011. Anyone may participate in this Workshop; a Position Paper is required from a presenter while a Statement of Interest is required from an observer. Both Position Papers and Statements of Interest are due 15 August 2011. Please see the Call for Participation for further details.

Joint Workshop on Mobile and Web Technologies in Social and Economic Development Report Available

W3C together with the Web Foundation today published the report from the W3C/Web Foundation Workshop on Mobile and Web Technologies in Social and Economic Development held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in June. The large and diverse group representing more than 30 different nationalities had engaging discussions on voice-based services for underprivileged communities, mobile entrepreneurship and data collection tools. The results of these discussions, as well as the actions identified will be investigated by the W3C Mobile Web for Social Development Interest Group and the Web Foundation.
W3C and the Web Foundation thanks the participants and appreciates the support of the Workshop sponsors: Spider (Gold Sponsor), Twaweza (Gold Sponsor) and Comviva (silver sponsor).

First Draft of XML Encryption 1.1 CipherReference Processing using 2.0 Transforms Specification Published

The XML Security Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of "XML Encryption 1.1 CipherReference Processing using 2.0 Transforms" specification. This specification brings the benefits of the XML Signature 2.0 transform processing model to XML Encryption, reducing the attack surface and simplifying the processing model. Related 2.0 specifications are in Last Call, including XML Signature 2.0, Canonical XML 2.0 and the XML Signature Streaming Profile of XPath 1.0. The XML Security WG also has 1.1 specifications in Candidate Recommendation, including XML Signature 1.1, XML Encryption 1.1, XML Signature Properties, and XML Security Generic Hybrid Ciphers.
To address patent disclosures related to the XML Signature 1.1 and 2.0 and XML Encryption 1.1 specifications, W3C has chartered a Patent Advisory Group that is in progress. Learn more about W3C's Security Activity.

Ontology for Media Resources 1.0 is a W3C Candidate Recommendation

The Media Annotations Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation Ontology for Media Resources 1.0. This document defines the Ontology for Media Resources 1.0. The term "Ontology" is used in its broadest possible definition: a core vocabulary. The intent of this vocabulary is to bridge the different descriptions of media resources, and provide a core set of descriptive properties. This document defines a core set of metadata properties for media resources, along with their mappings to elements from a set of existing metadata formats. Besides that, the document presents a Semantic Web compatible implementation of the abstract ontology using RDF/OWL. The document is mostly targeted towards media resources available on the Web, as opposed to media resources that are only accessible in local repositories. See the group's Media Ontology Test Suite. Learn more about the Video in the Web Activity.

Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0 is a W3C Recomendation

The Voice Browser Working Group has published a W3C Recommendation of Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0. The Call Control Extensible Markup Language (CCXML) provides declarative markup to describe telephony call control. CCXML can be used in conjunction with a dialog system such as VoiceXML. Learn more about the Voice Browser Activity.

VoiceXML 2.0 Developer's Guide : Building Professional Voice-enabled Applications with JSP, ASP & Coldfusion

Working with Time Zones Published as an updated Working Group Note

The Internationalization (I18N) Core Working Group has published an updated version of Working with Time Zones as a Working Group Note. Date and time values can be complex and the relationship between computer and human timekeeping systems can lead to problems. The working group has updated this version to contain more comprehensive guidelines and best practices for working with time and time zones in applications and document formats. Use cases are provided to help choose an approach that ensures that geographically distributed applications work well. This document also aims to provide a basic understanding and vocabulary for talking about time and time handling in software. Learn more about the Internationalization Activity.

XQuery from the Experts: A Guide to the W3C XML Query Language
Learn HTML and CSS with w3Schools
Learn CSS with w3Schools
Learn JavaScript and Ajax with w3Schools
Learn HTML and CSS with w3Schools

CSS3 Ruby Module Draft Published

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published a Working Draft of CSS3 Ruby Module. "Ruby" are short runs of text alongside the base text, typically used in East Asian documents to indicate pronunciation or to provide a short annotation. This document proposes a set of CSS properties associated with the 'Ruby' elements. They can be used in combination with the Ruby elements of HTML. Learn more about the Style Activity.

 Links :
Stunning CSS3: A project-based guide to the latest in CSS (Voices That Matter)
CSS3: Visual QuickStart Guide (5th Edition)
The Book of CSS3: A Developer's Guide to the Future of Web Design
HTML5 and CSS3: Develop with Tomorrow's Standards Today (Pragmatic Programmers)
CSS: The Missing Manual
Introducing HTML5 (Voices That Matter)
HTML5: Up and Running