While they may have their competitive differences, the world’s leading technology companies have a common problem when it comes to web development, which is why they’ve joined forces along with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to solve it.
These days, web developers have multiple coding languages, devices, operating systems and browsers to contend with when trying to create products that can be used across the web and mobile web. Documentation on the standards and best practices for developing on these various platforms is just as fragmented and dispersed among myriad sources.
Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia and Opera have teamed up with W3C – the main international standards organisation for the web – to address this issue, announcing the alpha release of Web Platform Docs. This community-driven site will, hopefully, one day become the authority on web developer documentation across all platforms.
Input required
W3C will oversee the site while Apple et al, the Web Platform ‘stewards’, will support the site with content, resources, funding and other contributions. Web Platform Docs won’t be successful without the input of the web development community, which is why the consortium has decided to go with an alpha release and set the ball rolling as soon as possible.
“People in the web community – including browser makers, authoring tool makers, and leading-edge developers and designers – have tremendous experience and practical knowledge about the web,” said W3C director Tim Berners-Lee. “Web Platform Docs is an ambitious project where all of us who are passionate about the web can share knowledge and help one another.”
