W3C Markup Validator Roadmap

   This page holds the development roadmap for the W3C Markup Validation
   Service.
     * For a list open bugs and detailed feature, we now use Bugzilla,
       which can be searched by specific milestone version numbers.
     * This roadmap only gives a high-level overview of what each
       generation of the validator changed from the others. For a detailed
       list of features and changes in past releases, see the News page.
     * If you would like to discuss this roadmap, or request new features,
       please join the www-validator mailing list.

High-Level Objectives

     * Provide the web with a one-stop service for Web Quality check
     * Help raise quality for (m)any kind(s) of Web content
     * Build a positive culture of Web Quality
     * Future-proof our services (new formats, new usage)
     * Leverage Communities energy
     * Remain the trusted source by professionals
     * Find the right balance between accuracy and user-friendliness

Roadmap

Multi-engine validator

   The current validator is mostly based on an DTD parser, with an XML
   parser used only for some checks. It also plugs into an html5 parser
   for the validation of HTML5 content. In the future, other engines
   should be used to check compound XML documents (with NVDL+relax, XML
   Schema, Schematron - using e.g the relaxed engine)

   The following flowchart describes the validation engine architecture,
   as it is now, and as we envision it in the near future.

   validator flow chart: now and next generation
   (follow link to enlarge, or download the vector-based graffle, PDF or
   SVG version)

Milestones

   @@ TODO @@ add these as Bugzilla entries
    1. Interface with an NVDL+RelaxNG engine for validation of compound
       XML documents (coding the interface will be similar to the one done
       for hTML5 engine)
    2. Choose the right NVDL+RelaxNG engine. relaxed and validator.nu
       provide such capability, and of course there is the option to roll
       our own (jing, etc).
    3. Change check code to send multiple-namespace XML documents to
       NVDL+RelaxNG engine
    4. Interface with the feed validator, RDF validator and CSS validator
       programatically (instead of redirecting, as done today)

Mulitilingual tool

   The Markup Validator receives 1M requests per day, and is only in
   English. Making it multiligual would make the tool easier to use for
   web developers and designers worldwide. Although this may be
   technically tricky (given the number of message/engine sources), the
   community would be very excited in participating in the translation
   effort.

Site-wide services

   The markup validator currently checks a single page. Some companion
   software (such as the log validator) could be made into a web service
   to provide crawling, batch validation, scheduled checks etc.

Check beyond markup

   This may be in the roadmap for Unicorn rather than the markup
   validator, but it fits in the "long-term" vision of developing the W3C
   Web Quality services. Checking of RDDL, RDFa, microformats and other
   rich markup are in scope. Many other checks could be added to the
   validators, such as:
     * document cacheability
     * spell checking
     * semantic extraction
     * accessibility evaluation

Less finger pointing, more problem solving

   Most of our tools, and especially the "star" HTML validator, have a
   binary "valid/invalid" way of presenting their results. While this is
   useful for some, it tends to make people look away from the "big
   picture" of web quality. A new one-stop quality checker could help
   bring a paradigm shift by showing diverse aspects of web quality, while
   systematically suggesting solutions for every problem. This would
   involve working with designers to find ways to present aggregated
   quality information in a clear and positive manner.

Past Releases Roadmap

   0.8.x
          The 0.8.0 release sees the validator code reorganized around a
          more modular architecture, adding better XML checking
          capabilities. In 0.8.5, HTML5 checking capabilities were added
          by interfacing with the validator.nu engine.

   0.7.x
          The 0.7.0 release reorganized the validator to use templates,
          making it easier to produce different outputs (hence the
          development of an API). 0.7.0 through 0.7.4 included mostly bug
          fixes and documentation updates.

   0.6.x
          The 0.6.0 release, in 2002, kicked in a new phase of open source
          development for the validator, including a number of bug fixes.
          0.6.0 through 0.6.7 included mostly bug fixes and documentation
          updates.

   Versions Prior to 0.6.0
          Versioning up to version 0.5.x was only done as a development
          mechanism, and the validator was not following a strict release
          cycle.
