Microsoft, Macromedia and Compaq have jointly submitted to the W3C an extension to HTML to provide links between the Web language and multimedia data. Dubbed HTML-TIME (Timed Interactive Multimedia Extensions), the system is designed to allow presentations to interact with HTML elements. The W3C has already recommended -- the closest it gets to saying a spec is a near as dammit standard -- the use of SMIL (Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language), which allows Web developers to synchronise various multimedia elements. However, the HTML-TIME trio reckon SMIL is seriously limited by the way it forces developers to work within a specific SMIL environment -- essentially, SMIL presentations have to run in their own window. HTML-TIME is designed to allow synchronised multimedia elements to be placed within Web pages. If it wins a W3C recommendation, HTML-TIME will at last make Web pages truly dynamic. ® See also Motorola heralds voice-operated Web click for more stories