Don’t call me DOM

As I was trying to validate a large number of XHTML MP 1.2 files (the ones in one of the OMA’s XHTML MP test suite – whose welcome page itself ironically is not well-formed), I realized that the tool I was using, based on the WDG HTML validator as packaged by Debian, was making network access requests when used on these XHTML MP 1.2 files. I then moved to use xmllint with the --valid option, but it had the same behavior.

As one of the W3C Systems team member, I’m acutely aware how bad is the practice of fetching DTDs over the network over and over again.  Read more... (587 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Last week, W3C started the formal process to start a new Working Group that would focus on the development of client-side APIs that enable the development of Web Applications and Web Widgets that interact with devices services such as Calendar, Contacts, Camera, etc.

If the group's creation is approved, this means that in a year or two, Web developers should have a bunch of new standard APIs to make their Web applications even more compelling and integrated with their hosting platforms; on mobile devices, this would make the Web platform an even stiffer competitor to the existing development platforms.

Stay tuned - we should know more about whether this group will go ahead in a few weeks.