C.5. User Applications

283. User Applications, also known as application software, software applications, applications or apps, are computer software components designed to help a user perform singular or multiple related tasks and provide the logical interface between human and automated activities.

Table C.11. User Applications Standards
ID:Service/Purpose Standard Implementation Guidance
1:Displaying content within web browsers. Mandatory:

W3C Hypertext Markup Language HTML 4.0.1

W3C Extensible Hypertext Markup Language XHTML 1.0

W3C Cascading Style Sheets CSS 2.0

 Applications must support the following browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer v9.0 and newer, and Mozilla Firefox 16.0 and newer. When a supported browser is not true to the standard, choose to support the browser that is closest to the standard[a].

Some organizations or end-user devices do not allow the use of proprietary extensions such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Those technologies shall be avoided. Implementers should use open standard based solutions (HTML5 / CSS3) instead.

2:Visualize common operational symbology within C4ISR systems in order to convey information about objects in the battlespace. Mandatory:

  • STANAG 2019, Ed.5:2008, Joint Symbology- APP-6(C)

  • TIDE Transformational Baseline Vers. 3-0, NATO Vector Graphics (NVG 1.5)

    U.S. MIL-STD 2525 B (w/Change 2), Common Warfighting Symbology, bMar 2007

Recommended:

  • MIL-STD-2525C, Common Warfighting Symbology, Nov 2008

Emerging (2015)

  • TIDE Transformational Baseline Vers. 4.0, NATO Vector Graphics (NVG 2.0)

 All presentation service shall render tracks, tactical graphics, and MOOTW objects using this standard except in the case where the object being rendered is not covered in the standard. In these exceptional cases, additional symbols shall be defined as extensions of existing symbols and must be backwards compatible. These extensions shall be submitted as a change proposal within the configuration control process to be considered for inclusion in the next version of the specification.
6: Representation of dates and times Mandatory:

W3C profile of ISO 8601 defined in:

  • Date and Time Formats, W3C Note, 15 September 1997.

Recommended:

  • Working with Time Zones, W3C Working Group Note, July 2011.

  • AAP-6:2013, NATO glossary of terms and definitions. Part 2-D-1, date-time group (DTG) format.

 Note that upto 4 characters will be required to represent timezone designators (e.g 042121M120JAN11 for time zone M120).
7:Internationalization: designing, developing content and (web) applications, in a way that ensures it will work well for, or can be easily adapted for, users from any culture, region, or language. Recommended:

  • Design and Applications Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/i18nauthoring

  • Internationalization of Web Architecture Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/i18nwebarch#w3c_all

  • Internationalization of XML Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/i18nxml

  • Internationalization of Web Services Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/i18nwebofservices

 best practices and tutorials on internationalization can be found at: http://www.w3.org/International/articlelist

[a] E.g. using http://html5test.com to compare features for HTML5