25 April 2017  |  Archive Just two years after  launching its first HTML5 course  on W3Cx, W3C is expanding its program offerings with an  introductory level course in JavaScript development, created in partnership with  University Côte d’Azur . Additionally, W3C is launching a  “Front-End Web Developer” Professional Certificate  on edX.org, which consists of a suite of five W3Cx courses on the three foundational languages that power the Web: HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. All courses, designed to build or advance critical skills in Front-End Web development, are  open for enrollment  and will start on May 30. This second anniversary also includes the milestone of exceeding enrollment goals with nearly 400,000 students from every world country. Read more in the  press release .

18 April 2017  |  Archive The  XSLT Working Group  has published a Proposed Recommendation of  XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 3.0 . This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT 3.0, a language designed primarily for transforming XML documents into other XML documents. XSLT 3.0 is a revised version of the XSLT 2.0 Recommendation published on 23 January 2007. The primary purpose of the changes in this version of the language is to enable transformations to be performed in streaming mode, where neither the source document nor the result document is ever held in memory in its entirety. Another important aim is to improve the modularity of large stylesheets, allowing stylesheets to be developed from independently-developed components with a high level of software engineering robustness. Comments are welcome through  19 May .

18 April 2017  |  Archive The  Spatial Data on the Web Working Group  has published a Group Note of  QB4ST: RDF Data Cube extensions for spatio-temporal components . This document describes an extension to the existing RDF Data Cube ontology to support specification of key metadata required to interpret spatio-temporal data. The RDF Data Cube defines CodedProperties, which relate to a reference system based on a list of terms. QB4ST provides generalized support for numeric and other ordered references systems, particularly Spatial Reference Systems and Temporal Reference Systems.

The European Commission (EC) recently launched the   Web Accessibility Directive Expert Group (WADEX) . This group has the mission “ to advise the Commission in relation to the preparation of delegated acts, and in the early stages of the preparation of implementing acts ” in relation to the  EU Directive on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies . More specifically, the focus of this group is to advise the EC on the development of: methodologies for monitoring and reporting of compliance of accessibility requirements for websites and mobile apps; technical specifications for accessibility requirements for mobile apps (and websites); statements of accessibility; user experience / user experience design. This relates closely to the development of the  W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 , which is expected to provide improvements for  mobile accessibility . It also relates to several other W...

UNESCO recently published a  letter  and an  article  about Encrypted Media Extensions. Since we didn’t have an opportunity to set the record straight with them, we are responding here. The spirit of the letter is anchored in UNESCO’s values and the concept of Internet Universality. We agree on the concept of Internet Universality. We even believe that those who are trying to restrict movies from the Internet are violating the concept of universality by preventing certain content from being on the Web. We note that  EME  does in fact provide improvements in privacy, security and accessibility over the alternatives. The alternative to  EME  allowing interaction with copyrighted content in Web browser plugins is abandoning the Web. Without in-browser decryption ability, content providers would use their own native application, which will have much more leeway to spy on the user, and possibly infect their machine. With  EME , the b...

30 March 2017 The  Web Authentication Working Group Patent Advisory Group (PAG) , launched in October 2016, has published a  report  recommending that W3C continue work on the Web Authentication Specification. W3C  launches a PAG  to resolve issues in the event a patent has been disclosed that may be essential, but is not available under the  W3C Royalty-Free licensing terms .

30 March 2017 The  Spatial Data on the Web Working Group  has published a Group Note of  Spatial Data on the Web Best Practices . This document advises on best practices related to the publication and usage of spatial data on the Web; the use of Web technologies as they may be applied to location. The best practices are intended for practitioners, including Web developers and geospatial experts, and are compiled based on evidence of real-world application. These best practices suggest a significant change of emphasis from traditional Spatial Data Infrastructures by adopting a Linked Data approach. As location is often the common factor across multiple datasets, spatial data is an especially useful addition to the Linked Data cloud; the 5 Stars of Linked Data paradigm is promoted where relevant.