The World Wide Web Consortium: Building a Better Internet

Chances are you’ll be reading this on a screen, from a page originating from a website and displayed in a browser. The Internet seems to many of us too have been around forever; of course it hasn’t and is an incredibly young technology, so young in fact that we are still developing ideas on how best to make it work.

The fact that you can use any browser on any device, including laptops, smart phones, desktop computers and so on, to read this page, is because those browsers use common technical standards. That is they work using a framework that every browser must use to ensure interoperability, or in other words, to make sure everything works well together. Probably the most famous standards that most of us have heard of are HTML or Hypertext Markup Language and HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol, these are the two main standards of the Internet, HTML used to present webpages on the Internet and HTTP to transport these pages. The fact that we are able to read these pages on any browser-based device is down to the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C and this is where our story begins.

A History of the W3C

The W3C was first set up by the now, infamous, Tim Berners Lee. There are many views on who invented the Internet. It was probably a mix of many people’s knowledge and specialties, but certainly, Time Berners Lee can be given the accolade of being instrumental in its success. What is fully attributable to Time Berners Lee is the development of the language of the internet, in other words, HTML and HTTP.

Because of the development of these protocols, Berners Lee realized that a common framework was required for the Internet to work seamlessly. To achieve an accepted set of standards that would be used by anyone developing for the web, Berners Lee knew that he would have to go down the time honoured route of creating a platform for standards design and acceptance by the development community. These sorts of organizations already existed in the early 90’s when Berners Lee was developing these ideas. For example, the Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF was a possible venue for development, rumour has it that Berners Lee tried the IETF but they couldn’t take a firm decision on support. In 1994 Berners Lee decided to go it alone and started W3C with help from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Inria and the European Commission.

Organization of the W3C

• The W3C has four host institutions: MIT , ERCIM , Keio University, and Beihang University.
• The organization is run by a CEO; Tim Berners Lee is the overall Director of the W3C. The W3C is run by a management team, who allocates resources and perform strategic planning.
• The W3C has an advisory board that advises on strategy, legal matters and helps to resolve conflicts.
• The W3C has just celebrated its twentieth birthday

Why Are Standards Important?

It is really important to have standards in software development. Standards set a framework from which software designers and developers can work. This framework allows them to create software that works and responds in a predictable manner. It allows software to work with other software that also is built to support the standard because they both ‘talk the same language’. Without standards you end up with software that uses proprietary methods to communicate information outside of its own domain. The Internet, was designed to be an open domain, accessible by all and allowing interconnectivity. Without standards the Internet simply couldn’t work.

An example of such a standard developed by members of the W3C is XML. XML is similar in some ways to HTML. It is used to describe data, but in a way that is both machine and human readable. The way it describes the data is formalized and repeatable. It is also ‘open’ that is it is accessible by all and free to implement, not owned by any organization. It has become the default way that many applications share information and is the basis of many other standards that have been subsequently developed.

How the W3C Develops Internet Standards

The purpose of the W3C is to look at areas of Internet use and see if standards can improve how it works. The W3C is a community of industry members. Membership is open to all, including companies, not-for-profits and individuals. If you are prepared to sign the membership agreement, which has various clauses including ones on Intellectual Property and pay the fees which range from $953 to $77,000 per year, then you can become a member of the W3C. There are currently (as of August 2015) 391 members of the W3C and the types of companies who are members of the W3C include, Alibaba, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Walt Disney.

The W3C is split into a number of sections, each looking at different areas. These sections are:

• Site Design and Application: This includes standards on how to render web pages, for example HTML and CSS. The standards developed by this chapter of the W3C have become the basis when creating web-pages, when it comes to web design and designing websites.
• Web of Devices: This looks at the access of websites across different device types, such as web and TV and mobile device access.
• Architecture: This looks at how the web hangs together, the principles of the underlying architecture and protocols such as HTTP.
• Semantic Web: This is related to the Web of Devices and addresses issues around communication of data across the web. It helps to develop rules such as OWL or the Web Ontology Language, which describes ontologies and classification principles.
• XML technology: As mentioned above, the protocol that describes data so it can be communicated between applications.
• Browser and Authoring Tools: The workhorse of the Internet, used to access the internet.

Together, the sections or chapters cover most of the requirements to build an interoperable, accessible and future proofed Internet, including the construction of web pages by a website builder using web building software.

When you join the W3C you can specialize in one of the above areas and join a group. There are three types of groups:

• Working Groups – these types of groups will look at an area, for example, HTML and create a set of deliverables around that area which often produces sets of standards and protocols usable in an open manner, i.e. by all
• Interest Groups – interest groups don’t need to create deliverables as working groups do. Instead they bring parties together around an area of interest to look at issues and to exchange ideas. This may result in the creation of a working group to explore the area in a more formalized manner
• Coordination Groups – this is a set of individuals that will co-ordinate discussion between W3C groups, often finding common ground. They also can facilitate interaction with related groups outside of the W3C

Once you join a group you become part of those group’s activities. Groups work on a process of consensus, which means that each group has a chair and voting members vote on decisions to carry them forward. Consensus for decisions is set by the group itself, but it usually requires 50%+ of voting members to vote for or against to carry the motion. Details of how the W3C groups work, including dissemination methods and confidentiality, etc. can be found in this document here: http://www.w3.org/2014/Process-20140801/#Consensus

Areas of Work the W3C Have and Are Involved In

We’ve already mentioned the general standards areas the W3C operate in. However, some areas are particularly attributable to the W3C and have worked to create global standards that we now use on websites throughout the Internet, these include:

Accessibility: The W3C have developed a set of standards around accessibility that website developers are able to follow to ensure that their website is able to be used by anyone with a disability. The W3C offers advisories and tools to help you develop a website that is accessible by all. The ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ (WCAG) offers 12 guidelines for ensuring accessible web content which results in three levels of accessibility acceptance, levels A, AA and AAA. This helps accessibility testers to determine what criteria a given website meets. The current version of WCAG is 2.0 as developed by the ‘Web content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group’ or WCAG WG. The group is still running and open to new members, the group charter is here: http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2010/06/charter.

HTML: This group looks at the continued improvement of the HTML language, the most recent version release being HTML 5. The group works from the 1998 set of ‘Principles of Design’ developed by Tim Berners Lee. The group produces deliverables, all involved in the improvement and extension of the use of, HTML. The documents include detailed specification documents to allow website developers to build websites based on HTML; this includes the latest specification document for HTML5 released in October 2014. The group is made up of industry members and individual experts. You need to have a reasonable level of commitment to this working group as you are required to attend regular teleconferences as well as two yearly meetups. There is a current draft specification out for review for HTML 5.1.

Privacy: This group is an interest group rather than working, so it monitors rather than creates standards. The group looks at current privacy issues and trends on a global scale and advising on how privacy can be better addressed in the various working groups in standards creation. The group runs various workshops on the application and inclusion of privacy standards.

Web of Things: This is one of the most recent interest groups formed by W3C. The Web of Things interest group was formed to bring together thought leadership on the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Web of data. The group is looking at use cases and requirements with the view of developing ideas around standards. The group is paying particular attention to privacy, security and accessibility.

Security: An area that the W3C are moving into and one that has arguably been neglected is security. In 2012, the W3C began work on an EU FP7 funded project named STREWS which looks at web security. The project will bring the standards development work, done by W3C and IETF in line with European directives on security and privacy with the express purpose of providing guidance and future research paths for the standardization of security on the web. As part of this project and to collect information on web security measures, there is a web based survey being carried out by W3C to request information on how website developers handle web security – it can be completed here: https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/1/strews-roadmap/

XML: This group is a coordination group, managing information between any related working groups in the W3C who may need advice on XML or be developing standards that may require XML insight.

The W3C has also, more recently, opened up a channel for a series of ‘Community groups’. These groups are coordinated by the W3C but run through community members. The most recent group is the Extended Web Community Group, which is currently looking for participation. This group looks at allowing extensions in web pages to communicate with local software.

The Maturation Process of a Standard

Creating a standard can take many years and involve many iterations of the draft specification before being finalized. Even after the initial draft specification has been accepted it can still be worked upon to create better and more robust standards and protocols. The HTML protocol is a case in point. We are now at version 5.0, 5.1 in draft, specification being drafted over a period of around 25 years since first inception.

The general process followed to get a standard specification into first release, aka version 1.0 is as follows:

1. Create a working draft. The working group will have been in discussion around what should be included in the specification for months, even years. During this time they may have created various documents that will have been commented upon and reviewed with the purpose of creating a working specification draft. Once agreed, group electives will write up the specification as a draft for review and comment by the wider populace.
2. Candidate recommendation: From the working draft comments and recommendations are incorporated and a candidate draft is created. Candidate drafts are meant for the development community to make comment upon as to the feasibility that the specification is able to be used to develop working implementations.
3. Proposed recommendation: This is the version created from the outcome of the first two processes above and is presented to the W3Cadvisory council for approval.
4. W3C recommendation: This is the finalized standard that has been out in the field and fully tested. It has been through a thorough review process and is usable in a real world situation. The W3C are now able to fully endorse its use by the wider community.
5. Revised drafts: Standards can be continuously upgraded and revisions to previous recommended specifications changed and modified to reflect a new version. Each must go through the same review process as the original recommended standard specification.

Conclusion

One of the issues of design by committee, which is how the W3C and other similar standard bodies work, is that having so many people involved in discussing and working out a protocol or standard can take a lot of time. Meeting co-ordination alone can be complicated, especially if it needs to take into account global time zones.

However, the Internet is a worldwide entity and as such it should not be left to individuals alone to develop the way that entity works. Committees may take time but at least it adds a level of democracy into the process which can also work positively to ensure that the Internet remains open for all.