The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is standardizing over 100 specifications for the open web, in at least 13 working groups. The CSS Working Group alone is in charge of 50 specifications. This does not include work on Unicode, HTTP and TLS.
New tag proposal. Not really.
The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from
I was waiting to post this until the debate between W3C and WHATWG about the status of HTML5 scope was resolved. However, I have waited since February 2011. Consensus is that HTML5 is being inappropriately used as a catch-all for every standard supported by modern browsers. Modern browsers actually include much more: CSS3 styling, WOFF (web fonts), semantic web elements such as microformats, 3-D graphics including SVG, and performance enhancements. HTML5 tags are merely one part of semantic web support. As a result, terminology was modified by WHATWG. HTML is the new HTML5. (more…)
PDF is a formal open standard, ISO 32000. It was invented by Adobe Systems 17 years ago.
PDF = Portable Document Format
History of the PDF by Adobe Systems
The image links to a pleasant interactive timeline of Adobe Systems and its role in the development of the PDF. The chronology is in Flash, and thankfully free of any video or audio. Read more about Adobe Systems role in the history of PDF file development.
PDF files are more versatile than I realized, and
are viewable and printable on Windows®, Mac OS, and mobile platforms e.g. Android™
can be digitally signed
preserve source file information — text, drawings, video, 3D, maps, full-color graphics, photos — regardless of the application used to create them
Is this the new Chrome O/S making an arrival via Acer Aspire?
According to DailyTech, the first Chrome OS Netbooksare on their way, and to be expected as soon as next month, presumably December 2010. Does that mean that the Google Chrome operating system (O/S) will come bundled with only certain brands of PC’s, such as Acer, and the Acer Aspire One, depicted above? I don’t have an alternative solution, not initially. It certainly would be nice to switch between operating systems with the same ease that one can choose between browsers, while continuing to use the same physical hardware.
At the moment, I can combine Windows 7 with any of IE8, Firefox or Chrome with the greatest of ease. It remains for the imagination to see a future where I can just as easily change the O/S, e.g. start with Windows 7 and Google Chrome browser, then select Google Chrome O/S while retaining Google Chrome Browser. Finally, imagine running the Chrome O/S using either IE 8.0 or Opera browsers!
And please put aside any questions along the lines of, “But WHY would anyone want to do such a thing?” I confess, I have no answer for that at the moment.
Photo Credit: Acer Aspire One with Chrome O/S via DailyTech
Have you ever tried working with 100 or more open tabs open in Google Chrome browser? I have. You can’t even see the favicon for the website, not to mention the site and page names! Eventually, the tabs become mere points. It isn’t exactly helpful for one’s productivity!
The favicons disappear due to my poor tab management
Consider this Chrome browser extension, TooManyTabs by Visibo, for better tab management. TooManyTabs (TMT) stores up to 20 recently closed tabs. This is a video demonstration of how it works.
NO MORE TABS?
Well, not quite THAT much discipline is necessary! For truly severe tab-aholics, there is a stricter alternative to TMT: No More Tabs allows a maximum of six open tabs.
Chrome extension for more productive browsing
Update 2016: The end arrives
Sadly, VisiboTech stopped supporting No More Tabs and Too Many Tabs in July 2016. The following commentary is specific to the Firefox version of TMT, but there have been no updates about Google Chrome browser tab management either. After eight years, the end arrived for TMT:
TMT is small, but developing it has never been easy. So why persist? For a tab-aholic like me I have always too many tabs open. TMT offers a niche function that could only be appreciated by people who really need it… They would email me about how TMT had improved their productivity and how devastated they would be without it. I am proud that I have served [those] whose needs were not met by the “standard”.
Here are some of my final thoughts as a developer… It seems all traditional add ons have become too niche to be worth supporting. In my opinion, the Internet and the Open Source movement has kind of lost its original way.
If my memory serves, the Internet promised a long tail. Everyone, supposedly, can find their niche on the Internet when there is none in the real world. The Internet now, however, is becoming more tailored to the interests of the majority, where popularity… is the sole criteria of survival… Niche [users], like Google Reader, will no longer get support. Maybe it’s because it’s not profitable… I do not like the direction that we are heading.
Ellie Asks Why 