The Web Standards Process

1. Web Standards Organisations
 - W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
 - IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force
 - ISO: International standards Organisation
 - OASIS: Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
 - idpf: International Digital Publishing Forum

http://www.webstandards.org/learn/external/orgs/

2. IETF Structure and Process
 : not a membership organisation - anyone can become involved
 - Structured into:
  * Working Groups: Chartered groups
  * Birds of a Feather Groups (BoF): Informal discussion groups
 - Document Types
  * Requests for Comments (RFC): become official internet standards documents
  * Internet Drafts: preliminary technical specifications, only valid for six months

https://www.ietf.org/

3. W3C Structure and Process
 : a membership organisation - must join in order to participate
 - Structure
  * Working Group: chartered for a specific duration to deliver a particular standard
  * Interest Group: chartered discussion forum
  * Community Group: discussion forum open to non-members
 - Technical Report Type
  * Recommendation
  * Proposed Recommendation
  * Candidate Recommendation
  * Working Draft (First Public Working Draft / Last Call Working Draft)
  * Note (Member Note / Working Group Note)

https://www.w3.org/

http://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/109517/how-is-ietf-different-from-w3c

4. De Jure versus De Facto Standards
 - De Jure "according to law": standards created to extend existing practice
 - De Facto "as a matter of fact": standards created to codify existing practice

http://electronicdesign.com/embedded/what-s-difference-between-de-jure-and-de-facto-standards

5. Web Hypertext Application Technology WG (WHATWG)
 : in response to perceived slow HTML standards development in W3C
 - Found by Apple, Mozilla and Opera (Now includes Google)
 - treats HTML5 as a "living standard", maintained by an "informed editor"

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/WHATWG-Web-Hypertext-Application-Technology-Working-Group