World Wide Web Consortium facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
World Wide Web Consortium / W3C

Logo since 1997
Abbreviation	W3C
Formation	1 October 1994; 30 years ago (1994-10-01)
Founder	Tim Berners-Lee
Type	Standards organization
Purpose	Developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Location	4 offices Main Office: MIT/CSAIL, US ERCIM, France Keio University/SFC, Japan Beihang University, China
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	460 member organizations
CEO	Seth Dobbs
Staff	53

The World Wide Web Consortium (often called W3C) is a very important group that creates rules and guidelines for the World Wide Web. Think of them as the "rule-makers" for how the internet works! They make sure that websites and web technologies work smoothly for everyone.

W3C was started in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web. This group is made up of many different organizations from around the world. These organizations work together to develop new standards for the web. As of May 2025, W3C has 350 members. Seth Dobbs has been the CEO of W3C since October 2023. Besides making rules, W3C also helps teach people about the web and creates useful software.

History of W3C

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded in October 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee. He started W3C after leaving CERN, a big science organization in Europe. W3C began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. It received help from the European Commission and a US agency called DARPA, which helped create the early internet.

Why W3C Was Created

One of the main reasons W3C was created was to make sure that different parts of the internet could work together. Back then, different companies made their own versions of web technologies like HTML. This meant that websites might look different or not work correctly on different web browsers. W3C helps all these companies agree on a single set of rules. This way, everyone can enjoy the web in the same way, no matter what device or browser they use.

W3C Around the World

At first, CERN was supposed to host the European part of W3C. But CERN wanted to focus on physics, not computer technology. So, in 1995, a French research institute became the European host. Then, in 1996, a university in Japan became the Asian host. Over time, W3C opened offices in many countries around the world. This helped them work with people from different regions. In January 2013, Beihang University became the Chinese host.

In 2022, a group within W3C won an Emmy Award! They won it for making it easier to use special fonts and typography on websites and TV devices. This shows how important their work is for how we see things online.

Becoming a Non-Profit Organization

For many years, W3C was managed by several universities around the world. But on January 1, 2023, W3C changed. It became its own non-profit organization. This means it's a group that works for the public good, not to make money. This change helps W3C continue its important work for the internet.

How Web Standards Are Made

W3C creates technical rules, called "specifications," for many important web technologies. These include HTML5 (for web page structure), CSS (for web page style), SVG (for images), and XML (for organizing data). Sometimes, a big rule might be broken down into smaller parts, called "modules." This helps them develop each part at its own speed.

W3C has a special process for making new standards. There are four main steps, or "maturity levels," that each new standard must go through.

Working Draft (WD)

This is the very first public version of a new standard. It's like a rough draft. W3C gathers ideas and discussions from experts, and then they publish this draft. Anyone can look at it and give their comments. At this stage, the standard can change a lot, so people who try to use it early need to be ready for big updates.

Candidate Recommendation (CR)

When the standard is more developed, it becomes a Candidate Recommendation. At this point, the W3C group working on it feels good about the standard. The main goal of this stage is to get feedback from people who are actually building things with the standard. They want to know if it's easy to use and if it works well. The standard can still change, but usually only small details.

Proposed Recommendation (PR)

After passing the first two stages, the standard becomes a Proposed Recommendation. Now, it's sent to a special W3C group called the Advisory Council for their final approval. At this stage, the standard is usually very close to its final form, and big changes are rare.

W3C Recommendation (REC)

This is the final and most important stage. When a standard becomes a W3C Recommendation, it means it has been carefully reviewed and tested. W3C officially supports it and encourages everyone to use it. This is the goal for all W3C standards. It means the standard is ready for everyone to use when building websites and web tools.

How W3C Is Run

Since January 2023, W3C has been its own non-profit organization. Before that, it was managed by several universities around the world.

W3C has a team of about 70 to 80 staff members globally. A management team leads W3C, deciding how resources are used and planning for the future. They also have an advisory board that helps with strategy and solving problems. Most of the work on creating new standards is done by experts who are part of W3C's different working groups.

Who Can Join W3C

The W3C is guided by its members. Anyone can see the list of organizations that are members. Members include businesses, non-profit groups, universities, government groups, and even individuals.

To become a member, an organization needs to apply, and W3C reviews and approves each application. The cost to join depends on the type of organization and the country it's in. This helps make it fair for groups from different parts of the world.

Discussions About W3C Standards

In 2012 and 2013, W3C started looking at adding something called "Encrypted Media Extensions" (EME) to HTML5. EME helps protect digital content, like movies or music, from being copied without permission. This is often called DRM.

Some people were worried about this. They felt it went against the idea of the web being open and free for everyone to use and build upon. They thought it might make the web less open, like needing special programs to view certain content.

On September 18, 2017, W3C published the EME as a recommendation. This led to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that supports digital rights, leaving W3C. As of 2020, many of the tools used with EME require a fee to use with each web browser. This means that some content protection tools are not freely available for everyone to use.

Important Web Standards by W3C

W3C works with another group, the Internet Engineering Task Force, to create many standards for the internet. Here are some of the important ones:

See also

In Spanish: World Wide Web Consortium para niños