The WHATWG Blog

“5 > 2”. So now you know.

The conformance checker technology preview has been stuck in a time warp for a while, because I have been writing about it instead of working on it.

I am happy to report that the schema layer has now undergone a major update. (The Java parts have the same bugs as before. I have not forgotten about those. They just are not what this update is about.)

The WHATTF have today decided to reveal our plans for HTML6. The objective is to rewrite HTML5 based off the new ISO standard OOXML specification as the serialization. The architectural model will adhere to the principle of separation of semantics from presentation using RDF for semantics and XSL-FO for presentation. An XML Schema will be provided for semantic validation.

Advantages:

• Over 90% market penetration (almost all, if not all, users own an Office suite);
• Backwards compatibility. Since the new HTML6 will have OOXML as the serialization, all OOXML implementations of today will be able to accurately render HTML6.
• Easy migration. Using a fairly simplistic XSLT style sheet, all developers will be able to convert their HTML4 documents into HTML6, and vice-versa.
• Ready for the enterprise. Thanks to XSLT and GRDDL, mapping the over-the-wire OOXML data to the RDF/XSL-FO model will be trivial. This approach gives the best of both worlds: While OOXML provides compatibility for entry-level applications, the RDF/XSL-FO-based architectural model integrates with the enterprise-strength backplane for rich applications.
• WS-* integration. XML Schema provides for binding with SOAP-based intermediation solutions.

We firmly believe that new HTML version should maintain backwards compatibility and specification writers must not reinvent the wheel. We've come to the conclusion that the OOXML specification adheres to these goals, making life easier for everyone: users, developers, implementors and spec writers

More details will follow soon.