W3C - News

• W3C opens 2026 community survey

  Following on the success of the surveys of the W3C community over the last few years, we are conducting the W3C 2026 survey to get to know our community better, investigate needs, and understand how we can improve.Further to the 2025 survey, we already implemented changes that W3C Members benefit from, such as quarterly onboarding calls and monthly newsletters, to name only a few.This year's survey is being run through SurveyMonkey and should take about 8 minutes to complete. It is available to members as well as those who are part of the larger W3C community. Answers are anonymous.Links for W3C Members:ChineseEnglishJapaneseLinks for the larger W3C community:ChineseEnglishJapaneseThe survey closes on 30 September 2026. We look forward to hearing from you!

• Web Authentication: An API for accessing Public Key Credentials Level 3 is now a W3C Recommendation

  The Web Authentication Working Group is pleased to publish Web Authentication: An API for accessing Public Key Credentials Level 3 as a W3C Recommendation.This specification defines an API enabling the creation and use of strong, attested, scoped, public key-based credentials by web applications, for the purpose of strongly authenticating users. Conceptually, one or more public key credentials, each scoped to a given WebAuthn Relying Party, are created by and bound to authenticators as requested by the web application. The user agent mediates access to authenticators and their public key credentials in order to preserve user privacy. Authenticators are responsible for ensuring that no operation is performed without user consent. Authenticators provide cryptographic proof of their properties to Relying Parties via attestation. This specification also describes the functional model for WebAuthn conformant authenticators, including their signature and attestation functionality. Level 3 is the successor to Web Authentication Level 2. New features will be developed in Level 4.

• Patent Advisory Group recommends continuing work on Open Screen Application Protocol

  The Second Screen Working Group Patent Advisory Group (PAG), launched in September 2025, has published a report recommending that W3C continue work on the Open Screen Application Protocol. W3C launches a PAG to resolve issues in the event a patent has been disclosed that may be essential, but is not available under the W3C Royalty-Free licensing terms.

• First Public Working Draft: The Profiles Vocabulary

  The Dataset Exchange Working Group has published today a First Public Working Draft of The Profiles Vocabulary. The Profiles Vocabulary is an RDF vocabulary created to allow the machine-readable description of profiles of specifications for information resources. It can be used to describe profile hierarchies wherein profiles of specifications may themselves have profiles indicated. It can also be used to link together multiple profile resources that make up a profile - guidelines, validation tools, schemas, term lists and so on - and it allows for those profile resources to be described with formats, roles, and digital artifacts.The namespace for PROF terms is http://www.w3.org/ns/dx/prof/ .The PROF vocabulary, defined in OWL and encoded in RDF Turtle, is available at prof.ttl .Feedback is welcome via GitHub w3c/dx-prof.

• Group Note Draft: Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) Impact Ratings

  The Sustainable Web Interest Group has published the first draft of a Group Note titled Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) Impact Ratings. The Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG ) Impact Measurement resource defines a framework for assessing the impact of WSG guidelines across three categories: people, planet, and prosperity. Each guideline is assigned an impact rating (indeterminate, low, medium, or high) and a timeframe (short, medium, or long) indicating when the impact is expected to be observed.These inputs are used to calculate an impact score for each guideline. The score helps organisations compare guidelines and prioritise actions based on relative impact and timeframe. Higher scores indicate higher impact achieved over a shorter timeframe. The resulting scores are included in the resource.Where quantitative measurement is not possible, ratings are based on available research and expert input. Each guideline includes a rationale for its ratings and timeframe, and where appropriate, suggested metrics to support evaluation.

• Updated W3C Recommendation: ARIA in HTML

  The Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group has published ARIA in HTML as an updated W3C Recommendation. This specification defines the authoring rules (author conformance requirements) for the use of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.2 and Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.1 attributes on [HTML] elements. This specification's primary objective is to define requirements for use with conformance checking tools used by authors (i.e., web developers). These requirements will aid authors in their development of web content, including custom interfaces and widgets, which make use of ARIA to complement or extend the features of the host language [HTML].

• W3C invites implementations of Decentralized Identifier Resolution (DID Resolution) v1

  The Decentralized Identifier Working Group has published a W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot of Decentralized Identifier Resolution (DID Resolution) v1. Decentralized identifier (DID) resolution is the process of obtaining a DID document and accompanying metadata for a specific DID. The process takes a DID and a set of resolution options as its input and returns a DID document and associated metadata about the resolved document and the resolution request. A resolved DID document is a set of information which enables cryptographically verifiable interactions with the DID subject, including mechanisms such as cryptographic public keys.Comments are welcome via GitHub issues by 3 September 2026.

• Group Note: Further Aligning W3C's Program of Technical Work with Human Rights

  The W3C Advisory Board (AB) published a Group Note of Further Aligning W3C's Program of Technical Work with Human Rights. There is a clear link between human rights and technical standards setting. In this position paper, the AB lists examples of how the two map, points to existing W3C work in this area, and provides concrete proposals to further the alignment between the W3C’s technical work and human rights.This document summarizes the AB’s current thinking, as of 4 August 2026. This Group Note is endorsed by the AB, but is not endorsed by W3C itself nor its Members.

• W3C Invites Implementations of WebTransport

  The WebTransport Working Group has published WebTransport as a W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot. This document defines a set of ECMAScript APIs in WebIDL to allow data to be sent and received between a browser and server. This specification is being developed in conjunction with protocol specifications developed by the IETF WEBTRANS Working Group.Comments are welcome via Github issues by 30 October 2026.

• Group Note Draft: Verifiable Credentials Overview v1.1

  The Verifiable Credentials Working Group has published the first draft of a Group Note titled Verifiable Credentials Overview v1.1. Credentials are a part of our daily lives; driver’s licenses are used to assert that we are capable of operating a motor vehicle, university degrees can be used to assert our level of education, government-issued passports enable us to travel between countries, and trade authorities issue certificates containing various informations on a product. The family of W3C Recommendations for Verifiable Credentials, described in this overview document, provides a mechanism to express these sorts of credentials on the Web in a way that is cryptographically secure, privacy respecting, and machine-verifiable.