W3C

W3C has published a new version of its Roadmap of Web Applications on Mobile, an overview of the various technologies developed in W3C that increase the capabilities of Web applications, and how they apply more specifically to the mobile context.

The September 2020 snapshot refreshes the list of technologies under incubation in Community Groups or on the standardization track in Working Groups. See the Change history since November 2019 for details. Standardization proposals that have emerged since last publication include:

• various proposals focused on privacy (such as the Storage Access API, the Trust Token API, Private Click Measurement, TURTLEDOVE, or the isLoggedIn proposal), described in Security and Privacy;
• exploration of standards needed for so-called MiniApps, see Application Lifecycle;
• main thread scheduling APIs to improve scheduling primitives, see Performance and Tuning;
• Web Monetization to enable continuous and small payments facilitated by the browser, see Payment and Services;

Former proposals under incubation in Community Groups have moved to the standardization track since November 2019. For instance, the WebTransport API is now in scope of the recently created WebTransport Working Group (see Network and Communications). The GPU for the Web Working Group has also been recently created to standardize the WebGPU and WebGPU Shading Language specifications, incubated in the GPU for the Web Community Group (see Graphics and Layout).

Implementation info for all features has been updated. A number of features that were previously in development, under consideration, or simply not implemented have now shipped in the new version of Edge, based on Chromium. Main technologies behind Web Components, which allow applications to encapsulate their logic in re-usable components, are now available across browsers (see Device Adaptation). Similarly, Web Animations, which allow application to manage animations via scripting, are available across main browsers (see Graphics and Layout).

Last but not least, a new groups page summarizes groups mentioned throughout the roadmap’s pages, along with the name of the specifications and features that these groups are (or were) responsible for.

Sponsored by Beihang University, this project is part of a set of roadmaps under development in a GitHub repository to document existing standards, highlight ongoing standardization efforts, point out topics under incubation, and discuss technical gaps that may need to be addressed in the future. New versions are published as needed depending on progress of key technologies of the Web platform. We encourage the community to review them and raise comments, or suggest new ones, in the repository’s issue tracker.

The Web Real-Time Communications Working Group invites implementation of an updated Candidate Recommendation of WebRTC 1.0: Real-time Communication Between Browsers. This document defines a set of ECMAScript APIs in WebIDL to allow media to be sent to and received from another browser or device implementing the appropriate set of real-time protocols. This specification is being developed in conjunction with a protocol specification developed by the IETF RTCWEB group and an API specification to get access to local media devices. Comments are welcome by 24 September 2020.

The CSS Working Group has published a Candidate Recommendation of CSS Grid Layout Module Level 2 and an updated Candidate Recommendation of CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1. This CSS module defines a two-dimensional grid-based layout system, optimized for user interface design. In the grid layout model, the children of a grid container can be positioned into arbitrary slots in a predefined flexible or fixed-size layout grid. Level 2 expands Grid by adding “subgrid” capabilities for nested grids to participate in the sizing of their parent grids. Comments are welcome by 18 October 2020.

The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) has published a Working Draft of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 for wide review. This version has 9 new accessibility requirements (“success criteria”) since WCAG 2.1. The new success criteria address user needs of people with cognitive or learning disabilities, users of mobile devices, and users of ebooks. We want to hear from users, authors, tool developers, policy makers, and others about benefits from the new proposed success criteria, as well as how achievable you feel it is to conform to the new success criteria. Additional information is in the blog post Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Draft for Review. Please submit comments by 18 September 2020.

W3C today adopted a new Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (CEPC), developed by the Positive Work Environment Community Group. W3C’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct defines accepted and acceptable behaviors and promotes high standards of professional practice. The goals of this code are to:

• Define acceptable and expected standards of behavior.
• Provide a benchmark.
• Ensure transparency in community and group management.
• Ensure an environment where people can participate without fear of harassment.
• Contribute to the identity of the organization.

This document supersedes the 2015 CEPC. Education and training materials are available from the Positive Work Environment public homepage.