World Wide Web Consortium Issues DOM Level 2 HTML as a W3C Recommendation; New Technology Delivers Standard API and Dynamism to HTML and XHTML 1.0

Business Wire, Jan 9, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

http://www.w3.org/--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2003

Leading the Web to its full potential, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today published the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML as a W3C Recommendation. The specification reflects cross-industry agreement on a standard API (Application Programming Interface) for manipulating HTML and XHTML 1.0 documents and data through a programming language (such as Java or ECMAScript).

A W3C Recommendation indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor its adoption by the industry.

DOM Level 2 HTML Makes Scripting Easier, More Reliable

"Dynamic HTML" is a term used by some vendors to describe the combination of HTML, style sheets and scripts that allows documents to be animated. The Document Object Model - abbreviated as DOM - is a platform- and language-neutral interface that will allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents.

Over the years, W3C has developed a uniform way in which the object model of HTML documents should be exposed to scripts. The W3C DOM Working Group makes sure interoperable and scripting-language neutral solutions are agreed upon, beginning with a suite of initial work on DOM Level 1, in 1998. The majority of DOM Level 2 was completed in 2000, but DOM Level 2 Model for HTML and XHTML 1.0 documents required further work. With the publication of the W3C DOM Level 2 Recommendation, that work is now complete.

DOM Level 2 HTML provides the interface that gives programs and scripts a standard way to navigate, transform and update both HTML and XHTML 1.0 documents. Wherever you use HTML or XHTML 1.0, you can use the DOM to manipulate it.

DOM Level 2 HTML Has Vigorous Implementation Experience and Test Suites

To ensure the usefulness and viability of W3C specifications, W3C Working Groups are required to provide both implementation reports and test suites which can be used by developers to begin to test their own software. In the case of DOM Level 2 HTML, the Working Group produced a test suite with well over 500 individual tests, launched jointly with the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which are free for any developer to use.

The DOM Test Suites, which include significant developer community contributions, give browser authors the opportunity to test their software against the developing set of tests and make adjustments to code. More changes to the test suites are forthcoming, now that the DOM Level 2 HTML Recommendation is complete.

Industry and Developer Support Key to DOM Level 2 HTML

Key industry players currently bringing their expertise to the W3C DOM Working Group include Arbortext, Corel, IBM, Netscape, Oracle, and X-Hive. W3C Members and other implementors are already providing support for DOM Level 2 HTML, as indicated in the testimonials. The DOM Working Group is currently at work developing DOM Level 3, the next layer of functionality for DOM.

Contact Americas, Australia -- Janet Daly, (janet@w3.org), 1.617.253.5884 or 1.617.253.2613

Contact Europe -- Marie-Claire Forgue, (mcf@w3.org), 33.492.38.75.94

Contact Asia -- Saeko Takeuchi (saeko@w3.org), 81.466.49.1170

Testimonials are also available at http://www.w3.org/2003/01/doml2html-testimonial

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, nearly 450 organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/