W3C

The HTML Media Extensions Working Group has published a Proposed Recommendation of Media Source Extensions™.

This specification allows JavaScript to dynamically construct media streams for <audio> and <video>. It defines a MediaSource object that can serve as a source of media data for an HTMLMediaElement. MediaSource objects have one or more SourceBuffer objects. Applications append data segments to the SourceBuffer objects, and can adapt the quality of appended data based on system performance and other factors. Data from the SourceBuffer objects is managed as track buffers for audio, video and text data that is decoded and played. Byte stream specifications used with these extensions are available in the byte stream format registry. Comments are welcome through 1 November 2016.

The group also published the following specifications as Working Group Notes:

• Media Source Extensions Byte Stream Format Registry
• MPEG-2 TS Byte Stream Format
• MPEG Audio Byte Stream Format
• ISO BMFF Byte Stream Format
• WebM Byte Stream Format

The CSS Working Group invites implementation of two Candidate Recommendations:

• 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.
• CSS Values and Units Module Level 3: This CSS module describes the common values and units that CSS properties accept and the syntax used for describing them in CSS property definitions.

This is a public call for prior art regarding patent disclosures by Visa Europe within the Web Payments Working Group.

The goal of this call for prior art is to collect information that would help to ensure that people may implement the (future) Recommendations of the Web Payments Working Group under patent licensing terms consistent with the Royalty-Free Licensing Requirements of the W3C Patent Policy. Specifically, W3C seeks prior art available under terms consistent with W3C’s RF licensing terms or in the public domain.

While W3C welcomes information at any time, responses as soon as possible and ideally before 31 December 2016 are encouraged. See the call for prior art for instructions on how to send responses.

On 19 July 2016, pursuant to its rights under W3C’s Patent Policy, Visa Europe disclosed a number of patents and patent applications and excluded claims from Royalty-Free licensing for two specifications from the Web Payments Working Group: Payment Request API and Payment Method Identifiers. In accordance with the exception procedures of the Patent Policy, W3C launched the Web Payments Working Group Patent Advisory Group (PAG) to determine possible solutions. The PAG has advised W3C to issue this call for prior art.

The Web Platform Working Group has published a Proposed Recommendation of HTML 5.1.

This specification defines the 5th major version, first minor revision of the core language of the World Wide Web: the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In this version, new features continue to be introduced to help Web application authors, new elements continue to be introduced based on research into prevailing authoring practices, and special attention continues to be given to defining clear conformance criteria for user agents in an effort to improve interoperability.

Comments are welcome through 13 October 2016.

For more details about our HTML Plan, see:

• HTML: what’s next?
• Working on HTML5.1
• Finishing HTML5.1 … and starting HTML 5.2
• HTML – From 5.1 to 5.2