Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

The Standards Process

The Internet was built on standards. Because the Internet isn’t owned and operated by one person or company, decisions regarding how best to accomplish tasks have traditionally been made by a cooperative effort of invention, discussion, and finally adoption of the way to handle a particular task.

Since even before the Web, Internet standards such as protocols, naming systems, and other networking technologies have been managed by the IETF. The process begins when a need for functionality is identified (email attachments, for example) and a person or group proposes a system to make it work. After a discussion phase, the proposal is made public in the form of an RFC. Once the kinks are worked out and agreed upon, the technology becomes the standard. This, of course, is a greatly simplified explanation. If you are interested in learning more about the standards approval process or in finding out what new technologies are currently in development, the IETF site (http://www.ietf.org) provides an excellent overview.