March 20 in Technology History: Standards, Patents and Breakthroughs
March 20, 2026
2012
On 20 March, W3C published the CSS Speech Module as a Candidate Recommendation, specifying aural CSS properties to control text-to-speech presentation and audio cues and marking a standards-track milestone toward interoperable speech media support across user agents.
2014
On 20 March, W3C advanced CSS Shapes Module Level 1 to Candidate Recommendation, defining shape-based float areas that affect text wrapping and pushing the web platform toward richer layout geometry beyond rectangular boxes.
2014
On 20 March, W3C published CSS Writing Modes Level 3 as a Candidate Recommendation, detailing CSS support for horizontal and vertical flows, bidirectional text, and script-specific layout behavior and strengthening the web platform’s ability to render multilingual documents correctly.
2014
On 20 March, a revised W3C Recommendation for CSS Namespaces Module Level 3 was published, defining the @namespace rule and a uniform prefix mechanism for namespace-qualified names in CSS-related specifications.
2014
On 20 March, W3C issued a Working Draft for CSS Lists and Counters Module Level 3, specifying capabilities for list counters including styling, positioning, and value manipulation as list rendering evolved beyond legacy CSS2 behavior.
2014
On 20 March, W3C published the WAI-ARIA 1.0 User Agent Implementation Guide as a Recommendation, giving implementers guidance for exposing ARIA semantics through accessibility APIs and improving interoperability for assistive technologies.
2015
On 20 March, W3C published a Working Draft of Manifest for Web Application, defining a JSON-based manifest and the manifest link relation so user agents can surface installability and metadata for web apps.
2017
On 20 March, W3C published Input Events Level 2 as a Working Draft, extending text input event handling to better support web editors and rich text applications that need predictable and cancelable input pipelines.
2017
On 20 March, W3C published Payment Method Identifiers as a Working Draft, defining identifier strings used with the Payment Request API so merchants and user agents can negotiate payment capabilities.
2018
On 20 March, W3C’s Devices and Sensors work recorded Generic Sensor API at Candidate Recommendation, consolidating a base API framework for sensor readings that other sensor specifications can build on.
2018
On 20 March, W3C’s Devices and Sensors work recorded Ambient Light Sensor at Candidate Recommendation, specifying an API for reporting ambient light levels with privacy and security considerations.
2018
On 20 March, W3C’s Devices and Sensors work recorded Accelerometer at Candidate Recommendation, defining an API for changes in acceleration along device axes and helping standardize motion-sensing capabilities in web experiences.
Related Entities
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Accelerometer
Ambient Light Sensor
Bitstring Status List v1.0
Controlled Identifiers v1.0
COSE
CSS Lists and Counters Module Level 3
CSS Namespaces Module Level 3
CSS Shapes Module Level 1
CSS Speech Module
CSS Writing Modes Level 3
Data Integrity ECDSA Cryptosuites v1.0
Data Integrity EdDSA Cryptosuites v1.0
Generic Sensor API
Gyroscope
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ISO 14001
ISO 22095-2
ISO 22095-3
ISO 45001
ISO 9001
ISO/TR 8344
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JOSE
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Mariner G
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RFC 37
RFC 38
RFC 486
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Windows 10
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CSS Lists
CSS Namespaces
CSS Shapes
CSS Speech
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Io
Voyager 1