--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
drafting spec…
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: WHATWG type: standards-body status: running version: living released: 2004-06-04 maintainer: Apple, Google, Mozilla, Opera (the "Steering Group") dependencies: - browsers - implementer-consensus - github-pull-requests - mild-chaos license: CC BY 4.0 (specs), BSD (code) tags: - web - standards - html - living-standard - browser-politics ---
A loose confederation of browser vendors who decided the W3C was moving too slowly and forked HTML in 2004, then quietly won.
Four major browser vendors maintain a shared set of specifications described as "Living Standards." The term "Living" means the spec never reaches 1.0 and is therefore never wrong, only in-progress. Changes arrive via GitHub pull requests, which are reviewed by editors who are employed by the same vendors implementing the spec. The feedback loop is tight. The conflict of interest is structural. The web still works, mostly.
LOOP:
1. Someone files an issue
2. Browsers disagree for 18 to 36 months
3. Consensus forms, or one browser ships anyway
4. Spec is updated to match shipping behavior
5. GOTO 1
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Founded after Apple, Mozilla, Opera reject W3C's XHTML 2.0 trajectory |
| 2007 | W3C and WHATWG attempt collaboration. Editors describe this as "fine." |
| 2011 | WHATWG drops version numbers. HTML is now eternal. |
| 2019 | WHATWG and W3C sign a Memorandum of Understanding. WHATWG wins. This is not stated in the MOU. |
| ongoing | The Standard grows. |
Is HTML5 done? There is no HTML5. There is the HTML Living Standard, which is always current and never finished, like the universe.
Who is in charge? The Steering Group. The Editors. implementer consensus. The ghost of Ian Hickson's commit history.
Can I contribute? Yes. File a GitHub issue. A polite editor will explain why the existing behavior is load-bearing and cannot change. This is usually correct.
Why is the URL spec so long? Because URLs are not simple. They were never simple. You were not ready.
"The spec is the browser. The browser is the spec. This has always been true." — a WHATWG editor, probably