Introduction to Web Standards - Web Standards: Mastering HTML5, CSS3, and XML - page 7

IETF
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standardization group within the nonprofit organization Internet
Society (ISOC) along with the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). IETF focuses mainly on Internet protocols. IETF
standards are generally on lower levels than web site developers are interested in; however, even the well-known
TCP/IP has been developed by IETF. “The mission of the IETF is make the Internet work better by producing high
quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet [8].”
Technical documents are listed on the Requests for Comments (RFC) web site [22].
Ecma International
Ecma International is a nonprofit standards organization that develops and promotes standards for information
and communication systems [23]. One of its most important standards from a web developer's point of view is the
standardized scripting language ECMAScript (which JavaScript is based on; see the section “JavaScript” for more).
Unicode Consortium
The Unicode Consortium coordinates the development, maintenance, and promotion of Unicode and other
internationalization standards [24]. The nonprofit organization defines the behavior and relationship between Unicode
characters. The consortium works in close collaboration with W3C and ISO. The most important part of the cooperation
is the maintenance of ISO/IEC 10646, the International Standard synchronized with the Unicode Standard.
DCMI
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is a registered company in Singapore [25]. The open organization develops
and maintains interoperable metadata standards. DCMI provides annual conferences and workshops, standards
liaison, and standards promotion. The worldwide community of users and developers is supported by DCMI through
collaborative work in discussion forums, communities, and task groups.
IANA
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the organization that oversees global IP address and top-level domain
allocations, root zone management in the Domain Name System (assignments of ccTLDs and gTLDs), MIME types,
and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers [26]. IANA is operated by the nonprofit corporation called
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) [27].
OASIS
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) works on open standards for
web services, interoperability, security, and ebusiness. Its slogan is “Advancing open standards for the information
society” [28]. The consortium maintains influential information portals on web services as well as on XML [29, 30].
ISO
Founded in 1947, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standardization
body that represents various standards organizations from all over the world [31]. ISO provides both industrial and
commercial standards. ISO has developed more than 19,500 international standards on a variety of subjects, many of
which are also used on the Web (for example, country codes, date/time, and time duration annotations).