Clearly, the goals listed in the previous section are ambitious, to say the least. Yet the W3C has been very successful in meeting the challenges of these goals, and they have a strong foundation to continue to meet the challenges these goals will present in the future.

In addressing these goals, the W3C bases much of its activity on the work of specific working, interest, and coordination groups. These groups consist of representatives from member organizations, the W3C Team, and outside experts. To help develop the work of these groups to the highest efficiency and potential, the activities of the W3C are divided into four major domains.

1)            Architecture Domain. This domain develops the underlying technologies and infrastructure of the Web.

Consisting of more than 430 member organizations worldwide, the W3C is committed to developing the Web to its full potential by making technical recommendations and, in the process, by developing protocols with the aim of producing a common, functional infrastructure for true interoperability across all facets of the Web. A collaborative effort, the W3C is hosted by MIT/LCS (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science), ERCIM (European Research Consortium in Informatics and Mathematics), and Keio University, Japan. In addition to these, other support organizations including CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and DARPA (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) contribute to the hosting and support of W3C.

Visit the W3C on the Web at http://www.w3c.org. In addition to current news updates on developing projects, you can view a complete background of the organization, links to member organizations, and fascinating historical archives and documents related to the Web’s history and evolution. Check it out!

Is basic html an outdated technology?
So why should you care about the W3C and its activities? Well, most importantly, you should realize that the basic HTML that is described and illustrated in this book is a somewhat old technology.

With all of the difficulties in running a virtual community (mostly in added workload and time), it might seem to be a questionable undertaking. This is not the case. I am not trying to discourage the adoption of virtual community technologies but simply make you aware of some of the challenges in their deployment.

The greater your knowledge of the challenges before you attempt to create a virtual community, the greater the likelihood that you will be prepared for the difficulties and overcome them. A poorly implemented community is much more likely to be a failure than a poorly implemented Web site. The Web site will still garner visitors looking for the information it contains, while a failed online community will be like a ghost town with few tourists.

Despite any disadvantages to creating a community, the benefits are substantial:

Creating a virtual community is somewhat like making a movie. Before a single camera starts to roll, there is an entire process of preproduction ensuring that the actors are properly cast, the equipment is rented and functioning, the script is in place, and the department heads know what type of movie they are trying to make. If any of these areas are neglected, from the first day of shooting, the movie will stumble forward, and a vast amount of time and energy will likely be wasted.

Likewise, a virtual community is expensive in time to launch, difficult to attract visitors/contributors,  and poorly planned execution will make even a promising start fizzle into a disappointment. Although Joomla makes the deployment of the features simple, proper planning even for an incremental deployment is critical for site success. By being deliberate in your planning and construction of the new community site, you will minimize the chances of hard-won users becoming frustrated with a poorly working or confusing roll- out and leaving your site forever. The creation and deployment may be divided into roughly three stages.

Three Stages of a Virtual Community
Virtual communities are unlike most traditional Web deployments (such as a static site or online store) in that they derive their value from the intercommunication of a large user base. Under any circumstances, gathering this large number of users can take quite a bit of time. The creation of a virtual community is typically a gradual process, and a visitor surge does not provide the benefits it would on a traditional site. If your Web site was suddenly flooded with a million users overnight, it is unlikely that the site could retain those users for more than a short period of time. Furthermore, the first experience of these new visitors would be empty content and slow performance. Growth for virtual communities is organic because the community slowly discovers what the group has to offer.