Opera Software reports that it has teamed up with Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Mozilla and Nokia to launch a new open web standards documentation site called Web Platform Docs. This new site will address the current problem of locating a single source that contains accurate, up-to-date information on HTML5, CSS3 and other standards features.
Currently this new site provides information in a wiki format, but Opera assures visitors that the site is fully-funded and staffed by experts to monitor and maintain its content. The site offers accurate, detailed documentation on the many web-based technologies, tutorials, best practices for using these technologies, and the current status of their cross-browser implementation and relative standardization.
"All materials on Web Platform Docs are freely available and licensed under creative commons to foster knowledge sharing and reuse," Opera said. The documentation is broken down into six categories: Concepts, Accessibility, HTML, JavaScript, CSS and SVG.
Naturally the site will be monitored by the W3C, but all parties involved are hoping that the entire web community will pitch in by maintaining and improving the content. Eventually the site will expand to include coding tools, resources for teachers to help them train their students with critical skills, and more.
"It will have in-depth indicators of browser support and interoperability, with links to tests for specific features," reads the Web Platform Docs blog. "It will feature discussions and script libraries for cutting-edge features at various states of implementation or standardization, with the opportunity to give feedback into the process before the features are locked down. It will have features to let you experiment with and share code snippets, examples, and solutions. It will have an API to access the structured information for easy reuse."
The blog goes on to state that over the next few months, the site will be asking "extraordinary" members of the community to help lead teams that will tackle "particular challenges" including translating the site into their local language, patrolling the site for biased content and more.
"This is an alpha release," the blog reads. "There is much to do, and we think that the best way to achieve our goal of a comprehensive, up-to-date, and useful site is to enable the entire community to shape it, to meet our needs together. So in the spirit of 'release early, release often', we decided to announce the site at the earliest possible point, and improve it in public… with the web community."
To check out the Web Platform Docs website, head here.
