About W3C web standards

Web standards are the building blocks of the web. They are the blue prints of how to implement browsers, blogs, graphic editors, search engines, and many more software that power our experience on the web.

They enable developers to build rich interactive experiences that can be available on any device.

Value of creating standards at W3C

Since 1994, W3C has been providing a productive environment for creating web standards that:

  • follow a consensus-based decision process;
  • cater for accessibility, privacy, security, and internationalization;
  • reflect the views of diverse industries and global stakeholders;
  • balance speed, fairness, public accountability, and quality;
  • benefit from Royalty-Free patent licensing commitments from participants;
  • are stable (and W3C ensures their persistence at the published URI);
  • benefit from wide review from groups inside and outside W3C;
  • are available at no cost;
  • are strengthened through interoperability testing;

Business case for web standards

Here is a selection of community viewpoints on the value of web standards.

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Future web standards

Input to the W3C standards process may come from a variety of places, including:

The Strategy incubation pipeline documents the exploration of potential new work in phases of Incubation and Evaluation, and eventually in the chartering stages of new standards groups.

Public input is welcome at any stage but particularly once Incubation has begun. This helps W3C identify work that is sufficiently incubated to warrant standardization, to review the ecosystem around the work and indicate interest in participating in its standardization, and then to draft a charter that reflects an appropriate scope. Ongoing feedback can speed up the overall standardization process.

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