Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: current state and roadmap January 2014 Latest version http://www.w3.org/Mobile/mobile-web-app-state/ This version http://www.w3.org/2014/01/mobile-web-app-state/ (PDF version) Previous version http://www.w3.org/2013/09/mobile-web-app-state/ Web technologies have become powerful enough that they are used to build full-featured applications; this has been true for many years in the desktop and laptop computer realm, but is increasingly so on mobile devices as well. This document summarizes the various technologies developed in W3C that increase the capabilities of Web applications, and how they apply more specifically to the mobile context. A good subset of these technologies are described and explained in the W3C on-line training on programming Web applications. 1. Graphics ...................................................................................................................................................................................3 2. Multimedia.............................................................................................................................................................................10 3. Device Adaptation .................................................................................................................................................................14 4. Forms .....................................................................................................................................................................................17 5. User interactions ....................................................................................................................................................................22 6. Data storage ...........................................................................................................................................................................25 7. Personal Information Management........................................................................................................................................29 8. Sensors and hardware integration ..........................................................................................................................................31 9. Network..................................................................................................................................................................................34 10. Communication_and_Discovery............................................................................................................................................37 11. Packaging...............................................................................................................................................................................39 12. Performance & Optimization.................................................................................................................................................42 Status and changes This document is the twelfth edition of this overview of mobile Web applications technologies. The previous edition was released in September 2013. A live version of this document accepts contributions on the W3C Web and Mobile Interest Group Github repository. This document is published by the Web and Mobile Interest Group; feedback on every aspect of this document should be sent to [email protected], the publicly archived mailing list of the interest group, or raised as issues on the Github repository, or alternatively to the author ([email protected]). It will serve as input for the next iteration of the document. It documents the following changes in the Web platform since September 2013: • CORS, the mechanism that facilitates the creation of mashups by enabling cross-origin requests, has been published as a W3C Recommendation; • Performance Timeline and User Timing, both APIs that enable developers to track and improve the performance of their apps, have been published as W3C Recommendations; • Touch Events, the API that let Web applications react to touch input, has been published as a W3C Recommendation; work on the more comprehensive Pointer Events specification is continuing; • Web Storage, a simple data storage mechanism for Web applications, has been published as a W3C Recommendation; • The Geolocation API, enabling location-aware Web applications, has been published as a W3C Recommendation; • Timing control for script-based animations, which enables to develop smoother Javascript-based animations, reached Candidate Recommendation status; 1/45 STANDARDS FOR WEB APPLICATIONS ON MOBILE DOCUMENT STRUCTURE • Media Source Extensions, the key to the Javascript-based generation of video content, reached Candidate Recommendation status; • Proximity Events and Ambient Light Events, enabling access respectively to proximity sensors and ambient light sensors, have reached Candidate Recommendation status; • The first public Working Draft of the Web NFC API has been published, paving the way to integrate Near-Field Communications in the Web platform; • The first public Working Draft of Beacon was published; that API offers to queue HTTP requests that are guaranteed to be triggered, even after the page has unloaded; • Manifest for web apps and bookmarks was released as a first public Working Draft; the document specifies how to describe the properties (e.g. icon and name) of a Web application; • Resource Priorities, a mechanism to indicate which network requests have high priority, was released as a first public Working Draft; • The Patent Advisory Group formed to assess the Push API situation with regard to patent exclusions it had received concluded that the disclosed patents did not read on the specification, opening the way to its further progress; • Convergence on responsive images (i.e. images that adapt to the resolution of the screen on which they are displayed) is progressing, with both <picture> and srcset gaining momentum as complementary approaches; • An editors draft of the proposed new FileSystem API, an alternative to the Directories and System File API, has been made available; • An editors draft for Service Workers is emerging; Service Workers enables off-line or low-network connectivity operations, and creates a framework for background operations for Web apps; • Built on top of Service Workers, an editors draft of the System Applications Working Group’s Application Lifecycle and Events specification was made available; • Work on WOFF 2 (downloadable fonts), promising smaller downloads, has started with an evaluation of possible improvements • The Device APIs Working Group formalized the abandon of a number of its APIs due to the lack of reasonable browser- based security models: Pick Media Intent, Pick Contacts Intent, Calendar API, Web Intents Addendum - Local Services Document structure The features that these technologies add to the Web platform are organized under the following categories: graphics (page 3), multimedia (page 10), device adaptation (page 14), forms (page 17), user interactions (page 22), data storage (page 25), personal information management (page 29), sensors and hardware integration (page 31), network (page 34), communication and discovery (page 37), packaging (page 39), performance & optimization (page 42). Other users Packaging Web Application Web Application Web Application Web Application Other apps Content Web Comm. Text Network Graphics Other devices PIM Multimedia Storage User Input User Interactions Hardware User Forms &Sensors The Web as an application development platform In each category, a table summarizes for each feature: • which W3C specification defines the feature; specifications that have been identified as of particular importance in the Core Mobile Web Platform 2012 report are marked with a medal, 2/45 STANDARDS FOR WEB APPLICATIONS ON MOBILE 1. GRAPHICS • which W3C group is responsible of the said specification, • the stage of the specification in the W3C Recommendation track (see below), • the estimated stability of the feature, i.e. how little the author expects it to change, from an early draft that can still evolve a lot, to a finished document with only minor expected changes, • a link to the latest editors draft of the document, and a representation of the recent editing activity; • some qualitative indication on availability of implementations on mobile devices, based on data collected primarily from Can I Use… and mobile HTML5, completed with data from Mozilla developer network, QuirksMode, as well as the author’s understanding of the mobile devices market (see also the code used to generate the support icons) • When available, a link to a relevant tutorial on WebPlatform Docs, and to relevant on-line training courses on W3DevCampus • a link to the test suite for the said feature, and when relevant, a github ribbon to access the underlying git repository. As a reminder, W3C creates Web standards by progressing documents through its Recommendation track, with the following stages: “Editors drafts” represent the current view of the editors of the specification but have no standing in terms of Editors standardization. “Working Drafts” (WD) are early milestones of the Working Group progress. WD “Last Call Working Drafts” signal that the Working Group has determined that the specification fulfills its LCWD requirements and all the known issues have been resolved, and thus requests feedback from the larger community. “Candidate Recommendations” (CR) trigger a call