The l3experimental packages are a collection of experimental implementations for aspects of the LaTeX3 kernel, dealing with higher-level ideas such as the Designer Interface. Some of them work as stand alone packages, providing new functionality, and can be used on top of LaTeX2e with no changes to the existing kernel. The present release includes:

• l3benchmark for measuring the time taken by TeX to run certain code;

• l3draw a code-level interface for constructing drawings;

• l3graphics an interface for the inclusion of graphics files;

• l3opacity support for opacity in PDF output;

• l3str support for string manipulation;

• l3bitset support for bit vectors;

• l3sys-shell which provides abstractions for common shell functions like file deletion and copying;

• xcoffins which allows the alignment of boxes using a series of handle positions, supplementing the simple TeX reference point;

• xgalley which controls boxes receiving text for typesetting.