2004-01-18 23:00 UTC Void filling: Web Applications Language
About 11 months ago, I mentioned that the W3C had so far failed to address a need in the Web community: There is no language for Web applications. There is a language for hypertext documents (HTML), there is a language for vector graphic images (SVG), there is a vocabulary for embedding Math into both of those (MathML), and there are lots of support technologies (DOM, ECMAScript, CSS, SMIL)... But there is no language designed for writing applications, like Voidwars (a game) or Bugzilla (an issue tracking system) or for that matter the Mozillazine Forums or eBay auctions. What is needed is one (or maybe more) markup languages specifically designed to allow the semantics of sites like the above to be marked up, thus allowing for improvements in the accessibility of such sites.
It's been nearly a year since I first mentioned this, and the only group that seems to have done anything about this is Microsoft, with their worryingly comprehensive set of proprietary technologies (Avalon, XAML, WVG, etc) that appear designed to ensure vendor lock-in.
I intend to do something about this (hopefully within a W3C context, although that will depend on the politics of the situation). If you write Web-based applications, I would be interested in hearing about what your needs are. Please let me know: webapps@hixie.ch
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