W3C - News

• W3C Invites Implementations of IMSC Text Profile 1.3

  The Timed Text Working Group has published IMSC Text Profile 1.3 as a W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot. IMSC 1.3 defines a text-only profile of [ttml2] intended for subtitle and caption delivery applications worldwide. It improves on IMSC 1.2 Text Profile by adding support for superscript and subscript text, and provides authoring guidelines for the Japanese language. The IMSC 1.2 Image Profile is not reproduced within IMSC 1.3, and the IMSC Hypothetical Render Model [imsc-hrm] is now a separate Recommendation, referenced by IMSC 1.3. Comments are welcome via Github issues or email to public-tt@w3.org by 15 January 2026.

• Updated Candidate Recommendation: Dubbing and Audio description Profiles of TTML2

  The Timed Text Working Group invites implementations of an updated Candidate Recommendation Snapshot of Dubbing and Audio description Profiles of TTML2. This specification defines DAPT, a TTML-based file format for the exchange of timed text content in transcription and translation workflows used in the production of dubbing scripts, audio description, translation subtitles and hard of hearing subtitles (also known as closed captions).Comments are welcome via Github issues or email to public-tt@w3.org by 15 January 2026.

• Updated Candidate Recommendation: CSS Color Adjustment Module Level 1

  The CSS Working Group invites implementations of an updated Candidate Recommendation Snapshot of CSS Color Adjustment Module Level 1. This module introduces a model and controls over automatic color adjustment by the user agent to handle user preferences, such as "Dark Mode", contrast adjustment, or specific desired color schemes.Comments are welcome via the GitHub issues by 16 February 2026.

• Group Note Draft: RDF 1.2 Interoperability

  The RDF & SPARQL Working Group has published the first draft of a Group Note titled RDF 1.2 Interoperability. The goal of this specification is to provide guidance and good practices to achieve interoperability across different versions or profiles of RDF. 

• Happy holidays from the World Wide Web Consortium!

  As 2025 is drawing to an end we want to express our gratitude to our Members, staff, and community for the immense work accomplished this year towards making the web work — for everyone! We wish you all the best for 2026. This year we made an animated holiday greeting. Warmly, from all of us at the World Wide Web Consortium.

• First Public Working Draft: SHACL 1.2 Rules

  The Data Shapes Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of SHACL 1.2 Rules. This document describes Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) Rules. This document introduces the concept of inference rules for SHACL 1.2, a mechanism for deriving new RDF triples from existing data using declarative rules defined in shapes graphs. This extends SHACL’s capabilities beyond validation, enabling reasoning and data enrichment. This specification is part of the SHACL 1.2 family of specifications. See the SHACL 1.2 Overview for a more detailed introduction to them.

• Group Note Draft: Web User Agents

  The Technical Architecture Group has published the first draft of a Group Note titled Web User Agents. Web user agents include both web browsers and other intermediaries between end-users and the web. Each user agent serves its user, not any of the other constituencies. A user agent owes its user various duties, which should be established through collective discussions and embodied in the various standards that user agents implement.This document is intended for: Technical authors who want to reuse or reference these concepts in their own specifications or documentation.User agent developers who want to align implementations with design and privacy principles that prioritize their users.Web developers who want to understand why user agents prioritize user privacy and security over other constituencies, including developer convenience.Regulators and policymakers who seek to understand the duties, principles, and expectations guiding user agent behavior.Feedback and comments on this document are welcome. Please file an issue in this document’s GitHub repository.

• First Public Working Draft: CSS Backgrounds Module Level 4

  The CSS Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of CSS Backgrounds Module Level 4. This module contains the features of CSS relating to the backgrounds of boxes on the page.CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, etc.

• W3C Advisory Committee Elects Technical Architecture Group

  The W3C Advisory Committee has elected the following people to fill four seats on the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) starting 1 February 2026: Matthew Atkinson, Christian Liebel, Jeffrey Yasskin and Sen Yu. The number of nominees being equal to the number of available seats, the nominees were thereby elected. They join continuing TAG participants, Hadley Beeman, Marcos Cáceres, Sarven Capadisli, Xiaocheng Hu and Lola Odelola. Tim Berners-Lee is an emeritus member of the TAG and Yves Lafon continues as staff contact. Many thanks to Daniel Appelquist, who stepped down from the TAG in June 2025, to Tristan Nitot, who stepped down in September 2025, and to the departing participants Dapeng (Max) Liu and Martin Thomson, whose terms end at the end of January 2026, for their contributions to the TAG. The TAG is a special group within the W3C, chartered under the W3C Process Document, with stewardship of the Web architecture. The mission of the TAG is to build consensus around principles of Web architecture and to interpret and clarify these principles when necessary, to resolve issues involving general Web architecture brought to the TAG, and to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C. The Members of the TAG participate as individual contributors, not as representatives of their organizations. TAG participants use their best judgment to find the best solutions for the Web, not just for any particular network, technology, vendor, or user. Learn more about the TAG.

• Authorized Translation of Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0 in Simplified Chinese

  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published the Authorized Translation in Simplified Chinese of the Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0, 可验证凭证数据模型 v2.0. The Lead Translation Organization for this Authorized Translation was the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team /Coordination Center of China.This translation was developed following the Policy for Authorized W3C Translations. The policy is designed to achieve quality translations through a process that relies on transparency and community accountability, with W3C providing oversight of the process.Translations enable broader adoption of W3C resources and serve worldwide audience across languages and cultures. Explore more W3C translations and learn how to contribute to translation efforts.