Xyzzy. Nothing Happens.

I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:12:00 +0000

(part 2 in my continuing exploration of what went wrong with XHTML at the W3C)

Okay... it's a week later, and I have a little distance from the original event. The XHTML 2 Working Group had its regular meeting on Wednesday, just as we have for the last many, many years. At that meeting, we continued to make progress on resolving issues so that we can update some of the existing Recommendations and move other documents to Note status (see our Drafts page for what is being worked on).

While we were doing that, we of course were whining a little about the announcement. Mostly because the working group was not really consulted nor informed. Everyone in the group had learned about it from the press, not from the W3C. Yet another example of the masterful mismanagement. Don't get me wrong - we all had heard inklings, but there had been no decision made that we knew about. The FAQ that was published was produced without consulting the working group either. So basically we learned about our future work by reading that document too. Unbelievable.

Despite these (typical) events, I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission (Dave). No, seriously. I do. The W3C is the worst form of standards production except all the others that have been tried (apologies to Winston Churchill). The model on which the W3C is built is one that makes sense if applied correctly. Get motivated, funded professionals who are experts in their field together and ask them to achieve consensus on the codification of some technology. Then show their work to a broader collection of experts and ensure it makes sense and integrates with the overall architecture. Assuming it does, call it a "standard" and get people to support and use it.

This model is simple and clean. It probably even works when there are relatively few of these groups of experts working on a cohesive set of deliverables (The Open Group is a great example of where this has succeeded by keeping the focus tight). Where it seems to fall down is when the keepers of the architecture lose control. At its outset, the keeper of the W3C vision was TimBL. Sure, he had minions to do his bidding, but in general they were mouthpieces for Tim. As the work of the W3C got more and more complex, the responsibility for the vision was passed on to various groups who were charged with maintaining their bit.

I desperately want to believe there was a long term strategy for the web motivating all the work the W3C's Advisory Committee, Technical Architecture Group, Advisory Board, HTML Coordination Group, etc. were chartering all these years. But I think that by pushing the responsibility further and further down the stack and at the same time getting distracted by other external activities like the WHATWG and the new World Wide Web Foundation, that strategy got miscommunicated or diluted or just lost. In any event, we now have a serious problem.

What's the problem? The organization with the primary responsibility for taking the web forward has two competing sets of activities. There's the browser-centric work - this includes HTML5, CSS, and the Rich Web Client Activity (HTML DOM stuff, Widgets, XMLHTTPRequest etc.). Then there's the web-centric work - this includes XML, XPath, Xinclude, XML Schema, RDF, OWL, etc. And while these sets of activities could be designed to dovetail together, the browser-centric work seems to be ignoring the rest of the work.

I have seen some people argue that the W3C's focus on the semantic web and the XML tool chain has neglected even the most basic maintenance of its (wildly successful) previous deliverable - HTML. I think I can safely say that this is true. Moreover, I am one of the people who helped make it true. The (former) HTML Working Group had responsibility for maintaining HTML 4, and we elected not to update it. It was too much work, and we were focusing upon XHTML, XHTML M12N, XForms, XML Events, etc. We had some members who volunteered to help process incoming comments on HTML 4 and produce errata, but in the end it never seemed to happen. So yeah, I and the rest of the (former) HTML Working Group are culpable.

Thank goodness the Google and the browser vendors came to our rescue! (yes, that was sarcasm). Now we have swung completely the other direction. Rather than focusing upon the future, we are clarifying the past. Oh, and while we are at it, introducing new untested concepts into the specification, sometimes despite there being standard alternatives already deployed. Does this bother anyone else? Surely, just as it is a mistake to lose sight of the past, it is a mistake to forget about the (envisioned, architected, long planned for) future?

HTML5 is here to stay. I get that. But that doesn't mean we have to continue to repeat our mistakes. Ignoring the HTML4 specification was a mistake. Ignoring the XHTML specification(s) is also a mistake. Pretending that the "XHTML5" part of HTML5 somehow continues the evolution of XHTML as part of the XML toolchain is a gigantic mistake. HTML5 has no extensibility model. It has no way to incorporate other public or private grammars into the content model. It has no model to define and connect RDF grammars that would expand the semantics of the language. It has no behavioral rules that describe how user agents must behave that will permit this extensibility going forward.

Right now, today, we need to find the strength to say "no! This is not good enough!". We need to ensure that the extensibility that is the cornerstone of the W3C's efforts to define the future of the web is not removed. Because we all know what happens when you remove a cornerstone, right?

I'm not quite dead!

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Steven Pemberton (co-Chair of the XHTML2 Working Group at the W3C) posted a summary of where the activity is and where it is going. It's a worthwhile read!

W3C, you ignorant slut!

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:34:00 +0000

[With apologies to Jane Curtin]

You know.... some people just don't get it. Most likely, most of the time, I am one of those people. This week, I get a pass. Because the management at the W3C have taken the cake, as it were. They have grabbed up all the "just don't get it" supply there is. The rest of us, for this week, can do whatever we want and still be as right as rain.

What did they do to achieve this? Well... They lost sight of their goals. They basically forgot that there was a plan that was going to take the web from HTML 3.2 to extensible grammars and follow-your-nose semantic magic. They forgot that there was a path to a web that was not just connected, but also accessible and meaningful. In a word, they gave in to the seductive siren call of HTML5.

(Disclaimer. I have been involved in the HTML and XHTML activities at the W3C since 1996. I am the lead editor for most of the XHTML specifications, and I have great passion for the X in XHTML - extensibility.)

What's wrong with HTML5? Nothing. Everything. Parts. Depends on what problem you are trying to solve. IMHO, at its core, HTML5 is just a really, really bad idea. The primary design principle for this language is "codify everything in use on the net, everywhere, no matter how broken, as long as Hixie has seen it at least once and thinks it is useful". How can that possibly be helpful (to anyone other than Hixie or Google)? I mean, sure... if you were writing a guide for the next browser manufacturer to come in and create a new browser that would be able to handle every broken web page on the planet, this would be a useful tool. But that's not a standard. That's an implementors guide. There are between 5 and 15 actual user agent implementors in the world. There are millions of web content authors. How is it that the 15 (I'm feeling magnaminous) are more important than the millions? I don't know. Let's ask TimBL - father of the web and master of all things W3C.

Oh. Wait. We can't. Tim recently got a promotion. Someone coughed up a bunch of money so he could form the World Wide Web Foundation (ironically, an organization that can't put up a web page that is valid!). He's off playing in a new sandbox. But I'm sure he hasn't forgotten us. After all, at the W3C the Director has absolute authority. Nothing can start or finish in the W3C without his approval. Oh Tim! Where are you when we need you most?

Or do we need you? It was under your leadership that this whole mess got started. It was you who decided to irreparably damage the brand(s) of the W3C by ceding control of the web to the WHATWG. What were you thinking? I assume you were under pressure from the browser vendors. I assume those 4 out of your ~400 members were saying "hey, we don't want to implement XML-based semantic web. It's haaaaaard (insert whine here)".

Well, guess what? It is hard. So What(WG)? The W3C has a clear mandate from its members. From its advisory committee. And that mandate is spelled out pretty well in the W3C's mission statement: "To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web." In what way is locking the web into a browser-developer controlled, non-extensible, non-XML language "ensur(ing) long-term growth for the Web?"

In my opinion, it's not. Instead, it is shackling the web content developers (like me) into the tag-soup architecture of the 90's. There is nothing about HTML5 that represents long-term growth. Nothing that represents industry consensus about how the structure of web content should mature so that it is accessible to the handicapped. Nothing that makes it easier to markup content with its semantics in an extensible way. Nothing that allows the use of long-agreed upon W3C Recommendations.

Actually, that's the saddest part of this whole story. The W3C is an organization that has spent many years developing "Recommendations" (read "standards" when I say that) that support its core architecture. XML, XML Namespaces, XHTML, MathML, SVG, RDF, OWL, etc. All of these are designed to work together to support the long term vision of the organization - one that promotes dynamic extensibility of the "web" by different groups at different times. The HTML5 activity ignores this fundamental guiding principle of the W3C. Instead, the HTML5 activity seems to believe that if it isn't written down in their specification, it doesn't exist. And if it is was written down elsewhere, but not in a way that is absolutely perfect according to the arbitrary and capricious rules of the HTML5 editor, then it needs to be re-written, solidified, and while they are at it changed in ways the original authors never intended (see their redefinition of what a URL is or their relegation of the definition of rel attribute values to the WHATWG). Or worse yet, replaced completely by something competing and incompatible (e.g., RDFa vs the much maligned microdata).

So, I was wrong. We do need TimBL, or someone in the W3C management to stand up and say "bullshit! This is wrong. The work that is going on in the HTML5 activity is inconsistent with the W3C goals for the web." The web community needs leadership with vision, not blinders. It needs an eye toward the future, not a detailed, Hubble-esque view of the distant past. Oh Sir Tim, where are you when we need you most?

XHTML 2 Media Types is updated!

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Okay - this took way too long. But finally the XHTML Media Types document has been updated! This document, first released in 2002, was meant to illustrate the various media types that XHTML could be served as, and how to decide when to use which. Unfortunately, the document was not really maintained and quickly became irrelevant. This new version is much more focused than the previous one. It also gathers together in one place this guidance and the information about what to do and NOT do when writing XHTML that can be delivered to HTML user agents (like Internet Explorer) and also to XHTML user agents (like Firefox). This is a MAJOR step forward.

Still more to do, of course. The world of standards never sleeps. It does, however, rest its eyes from time to time.

Experimenting with DreamHost

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:37:00 +0000

I decided to go a little crazy and get a Dreamhost account. I have been using dedicated server hosting companies for years now, but they are so expensive and their hosting agreements are so draconian that I am just sick of it. So, as of today... I am trying out a shared hosting service.

I know, I know... Everyone uses shared hosting. I have been helping out with some projects that use it, and other than performance issues every now and then, it has seemed fine. Add to that the benefit of making someone else deal with the networking infrastructure, backups, and other nonsense and I suppose it was a no-brainer. I guess I am just slow.

So, for now, I am setting up "halindrome.com" in Dreamhost. I will point a subdomain from that new server here for blogging, since I really like the "Blogger" service. More about this as I learn more about the service and its hiccups.

What I'm Reading

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:49:00 +0000

I don't normally write about my life... but I am reading a really silly, mind candy book series that I think everyone who wants to escape a little from the world would enjoy.

Kim Harrison has developed the "Hollows" series - basically a detective series where the herors are supernatural. The first book, Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1), is a wonderful romp. Fast paced, slightly racy, an easy read. Try it! You'll like it!

RDFa is a Proposed Recommendation!

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:20:00 +0000

After ages of hard work, the W3C has finally promoted the XHTML+RDFa language definition and the processing rules for RDFa to Proposed Recommendation status. This document represents a substantial advance for people who want to annotate their web pages with semantic markup:

It is completely compatible with existing popular user agents.
There are lots of implementations out there already that support extracting semantics marked up via RDFa.
It is already in use by the Yahoo! SearchMonkey engine.
Popular user agent plugins such as Operator and Fuzzbot already understand it.
While the mechanism is not explicitly defined (yet) it is possible to use the same markup in HTML and XHTML pages and get the same semantics.
Unlike microformats, the idiom for annotating your content does not conflict with the normal semantics of (X)HTML (e.g., the class attribute, the title attribute, and abbr).

Why would you want to use RDFa? For the same reason you want to use microformats. Because you care about machines understanding what is on your page, not just humans.

For lots more information on how to start using RDFa right now, see the rdfa.info web site.

Why we do what we do...

noreply@blogger.com (halindrome) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:30:00 +0000

An open letter to my standards making colleagues:

There are 4 classes of problems people like us work on solving:

Yesterday problems. Also known as "fighting the last war". I don't think any of us want to work on semantic markup for yesterday. The W3C doesn't usually work on yesterday problems, except when updating an old recommendation to incorporate errata or something.
Today problems. Problems that lots of people are still running into, and where a quick solution, even if it is "hacky", would have immediate benefit if it had wide support. WAI-ARIA could have been such a solution were it actually quick. Microformats are another good example. In general the W3C does not look at this type of problem because the processes are too long and frankly the market will deal with them before we ever could. However, I see XHTML Access and XHTML Role as fitting into this category. Should have been completed sooner, but whatever.
Tomorrow problems. Problems that cutting edge people are running into now, and that lots of people are going to run into really soon. This is where the W3C should focus its energy, and certainly where we have been looking in the recent past. RDFa is a solution to a "tomorrow problem" in my mind. If we can quickly show how to map it to microformats, then it is also a solution to a today problem and will help the people using the solution also survive into tomorrow.
Someday problems. Problems that visionaries have decided are where the industry is heading, and for which we need to start developing solutions now because it is going to take forever. This type of work has no place in the standards community. Instead, this is called "research" and there are appropriate places to do it. The W3C is not a good venue for cutting edge research.

HTML 4 is a today problem. Finding a way to help people with that problem interact with the semantic web seems like a major win. Microformats is a today problem in that it does not scale. Finding a way to bring them into the fold of RDFa seems like another major win. Doing both is a HUGE win.

XHTML / XML grammars and easy annotation is a today problem and a tomorrow problem. We need a quick bridge, and we need a long term solution. I think we have both in the XHTML RDFa module.

Improved accessibility is a today problem and a tomorrow problem. We have the start of some long term solutions with the Access and Role modules. These, coupled with dymanic semantics defined through RDF vocabularies are a great way to start making the web a more friendly place for people with disabilities.

Combining these technologies with WAI-ARIA into a new version of XHTML solves a today problem and a tomorrow problem. And, even better, it will work in existing user agents right now. We don't need to wait for the browser vendors to implement anything. That's surely the right place for us to be focusing our energies.

That's my opinion. That's what I am working toward. It might be a little head in the sand, but I sleep well at night and I am confident that we can declare victory very very soon. I invite you all to work with me on solving today and tomorrow problems. It's fun. It's rewarding. I doubt the people working on someday problems can say the same.