Makoto Murata

In 1997, Murata participated in W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) XML Working Group. Jon Bosak, James Clark and Tim Bray were also members of the group. The Working Group designed XML1.0 specification. XML1.0 is a markup language and a subset of SGML. XML1.0 became a W3C Recommendation in February 1998.

Murata and collaborators authored XML Japanese Profile, the issues of using Japanese characters in XML documents. XML Japanese Profile became a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) Technical Report. XML Japanese Profile was translated into English and published as a W3C Technical Report.

Murata is one of the authors of IETF RFC 2376 XML Media Types. The RFC specifies XML media types for use in exchanging XML data via network (text/xml and application/xml). RFC 2376 was revised as RFC 3023.

Some people, including Murata and James Clark, had critical attitudes toward XML Schema. XML Schema is a modern XML schema language designed by W3C XML Schema Working Group. W3C intended XML Schema to supersede traditional DTD (Document Type Definition). XML Schema supports so many features that its specification is large and complex. Murata, James Clark and those who criticised XML Schema, pointed out the following:

• It is difficult to implement all features of XML Schema.
• It is difficult for engineers to read and write XML Schema definitions.
• It does not permit nondeterministic content models.

Murata and collaborators designed another modern schema language, RELAX (Regular Language description for XML), more simple and mathematically consistent. They published RELAX specification in 2000. RELAX was approved as JIS and ISO/IEC standards. At roughly the same time, James Clark also designed another schema language, TREX (Tree Regular Expressions for XML).

Murata and James Clark designed a new schema language RELAX NG based on TREX and RELAX Core. RELAX NG syntax is the expansion of TREX. RELAX NG was approved by OASIS in December 2001. RELAX NG was also approved as Part 2 of ISO/IEC 19757: Document Schema Definition Languages (DSDL).

In April 2010, Murata made a presentation at JEPA on 14-itemized requirements as extended Japanese-language-related specifications to be incorporated into EPUB. When East Co., Ltd. started working on the project of EPUB enhancement for Japanese Text Layout, sponsored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of the Japanese Government, Murata assumed the project's technical responsibilities, and by jointly working with Tatsuo Kobayashi, et al., he called for other browser developers/owners, to take in the enhanced EPUB, or support Japanese Text Layout, including vertical writing, line breaking rules and emphasis dots. Murata is a coordinator of Enhanced Global Language Support (EGLS) for the US-based International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), developer and promoter of EPUB.