Image description:
a diagram showing the Recommendation Track.
Basically three "columns":
Centre
Shows the different stages of a Recommendation
  1. Working Draft: Working Drafts are published and announced specifically to ask for review and input from the community. Often there are issues that a Working Group would particularly like input on. Usually multiple Working Drafts of a technical report are published.
  2. Last Call Working Draft: When a Working Group believes it has addressed all comments and technical requirements, it provides the complete document for community review and announces the Last Call.
  3. Candidate Recommendation: The main purpose of Candidate Recommendation is to ensure that the technical report can be implemented. W3C encourages developers to use the technical report in their projects. The technical report is stable at this stage; however, it may change based on implementation experience.
  4. Proposed Recommendation: After there are implementations of each feature of the technical report, W3C announces it as a Proposed Recommendation. At this stage, the report is submitted to the W3C Membership for endorsement.
  5. W3C Recommendation (Web Standard): Once there is significant support for the technical report from the W3C Members, the W3C Director, and the public, it is published as a Recommendation. W3C encourages widespread deployment of its Recommendations.
Left
The Public: supporting with technical reviews and pilot implementations)
Right
W3C Members: supporting with technical reviews and pilot implementations, but also with technical submissions (at early stage) and approval (as Recommendation)
Image credit:
W3C. Permission granted to use for other W3C presentations.