| Web Standards Organisations & Consortiums |
There are four main organisations & consortiums that provide web standards......it is important to have a basic understanding of who they are and how they operate.
As mentioned previously there are a number of industry bodies that seek to provide standards for the World Wide Web. It is worthwhile having an understanding of who they are, what they do and how they do it. The main organisations are the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the European Association for Standardizing Information and Communication Systems (ECMA), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops open specifications that seek to enhance the interoperability of web-related products. It was founded in 1994 by, and is still headed by, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, and it is the chief international standards organization for the World Wide Web. It has the mandate of “leading the Web to its full potential“.W3C - MembershipThe W3 consortium consists of member organizations who themselves maintain full-time staff specifically for the purpose of working on the development of standards for the World Wide Web. As of early 2011, the W3C had 326 members, including software and hardware manufacturers, content providers, academic institutions, telecommunications companies and other companies/organizations involved in creating applications for the Web. The W3C membership includes the likes of Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Apple Inc., America Online (parent company of Netscape Communications), Adobe, and more.W3C - Vendors & New standardsThe W3C was created to encourage compatibility, consultation, and agreement among industry members in the adoption of new standards. Prior to its creation, incompatible versions of HTML were offered by different vendors, increasing the potential for inconsistency between web pages. The consortium was created to get all those vendors to agree on a set of core principles and components which would be supported by everyone.W3C – Working GroupsConsortium members and invited experts form working groups which seeks to obtain a general consensus from business and other organizations involved in creating applications for the Web. They create Working Drafts and Proposed Recommendations. These are then submitted to the W3C membership and director, for formal approval as W3C Recommendations.W3C - Recommendations & StandardsA W3C Recommendation is the final stage of a ratification process of a W3C working group in relation to a standard. The "Recommendation" designation signifies that a document has been subjected to a public and W3C-member organization's review. It aims to standardise the Web technology and it is the equivalent of a published standard in many other industries. This is the most mature stage of their standard development and at this point, the standard has undergone extensive review and testing, under both theoretical and practical conditions. It means that the standard is now endorsed by the W3C as a standard for wide deployment in its problem domain.W3C - Adoption of standardsW3C leaves it up to manufacturers, vendors, and developers to follow the Recommendations. Many of its standards define levels of conformance, which the industry players must follow if they wish to label their product W3C-compliant. Like many standards of other organizations, W3C recommendations are sometimes implemented partially. The Recommendations are under a royalty-free patent license, allowing anyone to implement them. Unlike the ISOC and other international standards bodies, the W3C does not have a certification program. A certification program is a process which has benefits and drawbacks; the W3C has decided, for now, that it is not suitable to start such a program owing to the risk of creating more drawbacks for the community than benefits. ECMA internationalThe European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) is an organization officially founded in 1961 in order to meet the need for standardizing computer operational formats, including programming languages and input/output codes. In 1994, the organization’s name was changed to the ECMA-International – European Association for Standardizing Information and Communication Systems, in order to reflect its broader range of activities. ECMA - A European Standards AssociationThe main role of the ECMA-International is to develop Standards and Technical Reports in the area of information and communication technology. As ECMA-International is an association of companies and not an official standardization institute, they often collaborate with official national or international institutes. ECMA - As a base for European and international standardsECMA-International Standards have been accepted as a base for International and European standards. So far more than 270 ECMA Standards and 70 Technical Reports have been published. Of these standards 85 have been accepted as international standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In addition, 25 have been accepted as European standards by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). ETSIThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) was created in 1988 and is a not-for-profit, independent, European standards organisation that is responsible for standardization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) within Europe. These technologies include telecommunications, broadcasting (and related areas) and internet technologies. ETSI is officially recognized by the European Commission and the EFTA secretariat, and has a solid reputation for technical excellence and produces globally-applicable standards. ETSI has more than 740 members drawn from 62 countries across the globe, and includes most of the major players in the ICT arena.
|
