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sandra_gittlen
Contributing Writer

The W3C site: A destination to behold

Opinion
Aug 27, 20032 mins
Enterprise Applications

* What you'll learn at the W3C site

One of my favorite things to do when I want to learn something new is head over to the World Wide Web Consortium’s site. Inevitably, there is information about a new markup language or accessibility standard or other efforts of interest.

The W3C, in its own words, is a body that “develops interoperable technologies to lead the Web to its full potential.” On the site, you’ll find specifications, guidelines, software and tools. The goal of the site is to create a collective understanding of the technologies that will move the Web further ahead.

The site is a work of art. From its earliest days, it has been a repository for some of the clearest thinking on various technologies from XML to RDF to even good ol’ HTML. You’ll find drafts of specs, forums and other types of communications, as well as directions for participating in the process.

There are also training links for most of the areas that let you further your education. For instance, the Web accessibility subsite has an online curriculum for learning more about accessibility evaluation guidelines.

You can also find links to other sites that have information about the topic. In the accessibility area, there are links to government sites on accessibility policies.

The W3C is also great about letting you know that status of the myriad projects they are working on. For instance, there is currently an announcement about the Web Ontology Language and its move to candidate recommendation, a sign that the spec is stable enough for implementation. Along with this announcement, there is an overview of the language, case studies and reference guides – all clearly identified. And for quick reference, there is an FAQ on the specification and its importance.

I encourage you to take a spin around the W3C site and get familiar with it. There is always something new going on and something more to learn.

What do you think? Are there sites that you enjoy surfing through to learn new things? E-mail me at sgittlen@nww.com with your suggestions.