XSLT 2.0, XML Query and XPath 2.0 Are W3C Candidate Recommendations

2005-11-03: W3C is pleased to announce eight Candidate Recommendations for XSLT, XML Query and XPath. Comments are welcome through 28 February. XSLT transforms documents into different markup or formats. Important for databases, search engines and object repositories, XML Query can perform searches, queries and joins over collections of documents. Both XSLT 2 and XQuery use XPath expressions and operate on XPath Data Model instances. Read the press release and visit the XML home page. (News archive)

• XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 2.0:
  Transforms data model instances (XML and non-XML) into other documents including into XSL-FO for printing
• XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language:
  An XML-aware syntax for querying collections of structured and semi-structured data both locally and over the Web
• XML Syntax for XQuery 1.0 (XQueryX):
  A precise representation in XML of the XML Query language, suitable for machine processing and introspection
• XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0:
  Expression syntax for referring to parts of XML documents
• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model (XDM):
  Representation and access for both XML and non-XML sources
• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators:
  The functions you can call in XPath expressions and the operations you can perform on XPath 2.0 data types
• XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization:
  How to output the results of XSLT 2.0 and XML Query evaluation in XML, HTML or as text
• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics:
  The type system used in XQuery and XSLT 2 via XPath defined precisely for implementers
• Working Drafts also published:
  • XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Full-Text:
    A full-text retrieval facility for XPath, XSLT and XML Query
  • XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Full-Text Use Cases:
    Examples for full-text search over data model collections

W3C Holds Workshop on Internationalizing SSML

2005-11-02: W3C holds the Workshop on Internationalizing the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) on 2-3 November hosted by IBM at the IBM China Research Lab in Beijing, China. Attendees will discuss ways to improve rendering of non-English natural languages using the SSML W3C Recommendation which generates synthetic speech and controls pronunciation, volume, pitch and rate. Read the agenda, about W3C Workshops and visit the Voice Browser Activity home page. (News archive)

Character Model: Normalization

2005-11-01: The Internationalization Core Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Character Model for the World Wide Web 1.0: Normalization to improve text manipulation on the Web. Based on the character model Fundamentals W3C Recommendation, the draft provides authors of specifications, software developers, and content developers with a common reference for text normalization and string identity matching. Visit the Internationalization home page. (News archive)

XML Processing Model Working Group Launched

2005-10-28: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the XML Processing Model Working Group. Chartered through October 2007 and chaired by Norman Walsh (Sun Microsystems), the group will create a language for users to specify the order in which technologies process XML documents. The XML Pipeline Language and Pipeline Member Submissions and the XML Processing Model Workshop serve as input for this work. Participation is open to W3C Members. Visit the XML home page. (News archive)

Databinding Working Group Launched

2005-10-28: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Working Group. Chartered through September 2007 and chaired by Paul Downey (BT), the group will specify a set of XML Schema patterns and their usage, allowing developers to access the data structure in Web services and other toolkits efficiently. The group is also chartered to build a test suite and to address versioning in coordination with the W3C TAG, Web Services Description Working Group, and XML Schema Working Group. Participation is open to W3C Members. Visit the Web services home page. (News archive)

W3C Launches Indian Office

2005-10-27: W3C is pleased to announce the opening of the W3C Indian Office in Noida, India. The Office is hosted by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC Noida). R. K. Verma is the Office Manager and the Deputy Office Manager is Vijay Gugnani. Stéphane Boyera, Steve Bratt, Max Froumentin, Ivan Herman and Richard Ishida are among those attending the opening ceremonies on 10-11 November in New Delhi. Read the press release and about W3C Offices. (News archive)

Mobile Web Initiative Event in London on 15 November

2005-10-21: Registration is open for the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) event on Tuesday, 15 November at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in central London, UK. MWI sponsors will attend. The event is free and open to the public. Read the media advisory and about the Mobile Web Initiative, a concerted effort to make the Web interoperable and usable for users of mobile devices. (News archive)

Working Draft: SPARQL Protocol in WSDL 1.1

2005-10-25: The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a First Public Working Draft of the SPARQL Protocol for RDF Using WSDL 1.1. The draft describes the SPARQL protocol for RDF non-normatively in WSDL 1.1. It was written to gain implementation experience using existing Web services toolkits until WSDL 2.0 toolkits become widely available. The group also provides a wiki for code samples. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (News archive)

W3C Process Document Published

2005-10-19: The 14 October 2005 W3C Process Document is operative. Reviewed by the W3C Membership and staff and produced by the Advisory Board, the Process Document describes the structure and operations of W3C. A summary of changes from the previous version is available. Read more About W3C. (News archive)