Hey, Web developers! Here's a one-stop shop for your app needs
The W3C standards group will house a unified site for Web programming explanations and examples at the new Web Platform Docs project.
Enough with having separate Web programming tutorials from Google, Apple, Opera, Mozilla, and Microsoft.
These five major browser makers, along with Facebook, Adobe Systems, Nokia, and Hewlett Packard, have become stewards of a new effort to centralize developer resources at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This Web Platform Docs project will include not just help on to use a bewildering array of new Web technologies, but also will detail which ones are accepted standards, how well the various tools work across multiple browsers, and how stable the standards are.
"A key part of this project is that it will be a wiki, and we are announcing it as early as possible in the process so that the community can contribute and feel some ownership," said Doug Schepers, the W3C Developer Relations leader. "Part of that contribution is expected to be importing content from Mozilla Developer Network and other open sources of Web development information."
Along with countless independent sites, Web programming resources can be found at Opera's developer site, Google's Chrome developer site, the HTML5 Rocks site Google organizes, assorted Microsoft IE developer guides, and Apple's guides on Web development for Safari.
In other words, it's a fragmented world out there for developers seeking to figure out what to do. Some of that is inevitable, since Web browsers themselves don't support the same standards, but some centralization could help.
Though the stewards are big names, the W3C expects others to participate.
"The W3C will serve as the site's convener. As the Open Web Platform evolves, the entire community, including the original stewards and new stewards, will help maintain and improve the content. All materials on the site will be freely available and licensed to foster sharing and reuse," the W3C said.
For more on the effort, you can check blog posts from Google, Microsoft, Opera, and Adobe.