HTML 4.0 Becomes A Standard The World Wide Web Consortium yesterday put its final stamp of approval on HTML 4.0, the next-generation of the Web's core markup language. The move to so-called Recommendation status means that all 200-plus members of the W3C have approved the HyperText Markup Language 4.0 spec, along with a final thumbs-up from W3C director Tim Berners-Lee. The spec moves standard HTML forward from its current HTML 3.2 level, the group's last "freezing" of the HTML standard. HTML 3.2 essentially collected and standardized the most popular Netscape and Microsoft extensions that were in use at that time. The W3C's Berners-Lee encouraged Web users and builders to insist on HTML 4.0 compliance in order to ensure a vendor- independent Web. "There really is no excuse for tying yourselves or your partners to proprietary solutions," he said in a statement. The first public working draft of HTML 4.0 was published in July. The final standard includes improvements to forms, tables and frames, as well as increased support for Web objects, scripting and style sheets. The spec also includes improvements to make Web pages more accessible for users with disabilities, for instance, allowing table and form text to be rendered into Braille or speech. In related news, the W3C unveiled the W3C HTML Validation Service at http://validator.w3.org/. Web developers can use the service to validate their Web pages against the HTML 4.0 standard. FR Fred Rump http://www.k2nesoft.com/~fred 26 Warren St Beverly, NJ 08010 fred@compu.com or 609-386-6846 fred@k2nesoft.com