▁to ▁stream lin ing ▁web ▁development ▁and ▁significantly ▁lower ing ▁its ▁cost , ▁support ▁for ▁common ▁web ▁standards ▁enabled ▁the ▁development ▁of ▁the ▁semantic ▁web . ▁By ▁mark ing ▁up ▁content ▁in ▁semantic ▁( X ) HTML , ▁front - end ▁developers ▁make ▁a ▁site ' s ▁content ▁more ▁available ▁to ▁search ▁engines , ▁more ▁accessible ▁to ▁people ▁with ▁dis abilities , ▁and ▁more ▁available ▁to ▁the ▁world ▁beyond ▁the ▁desktop ▁( e . g . ▁mobile ). ▁ ▁The ▁project ▁rela unch ed ▁in ▁June ▁ 2 0 0 2 ▁with ▁new ▁members , ▁a ▁red es igned ▁website , ▁new ▁site ▁features , ▁and ▁a ▁re defined ▁mission ▁focused ▁on ▁developer ▁education ▁and ▁standards ▁comp liance ▁in ▁author ing ▁tools ▁as ▁well ▁as ▁browsers . ▁ ▁Project ▁leaders ▁were : ▁ ▁George ▁O ls en ▁( 1 9 9 8 – 1 9 9 9 ) ▁ ▁Jeff rey ▁Z eld man ▁( 1 9 9 9 – 2 0 0 2 ) ▁ ▁Steven ▁Cham pe on ▁( 2 0 0 2 – 2 0 0 4 ) ▁ ▁Mol ly ▁Holz sch lag ▁( 2 0 0 4 – 2 0 0 6 ) ▁ ▁Kim ber ly ▁B less ing ▁and ▁D rew ▁Mc L ellan ▁( 2 0 0 6 – 2 0 0 8 ) ▁ ▁D erek ▁Fe ather stone , ▁A aron ▁Gust af son , ▁and ▁Gl enda ▁Sim s ▁( 2 0 0 8 – 2 0 1 3 ) ▁ ▁There