modules of charter

This conversation is taking place under the more or less tacet
assumption that the topic is the next HTML Working Group.

This message tests that hypothesis.

Dan says we have to come up with a charge to a work group which
makes a unit of work a compelling thing to work on.  Of course,
he's right.

Meanwhile, I am not sure I sense a great groundswell of interest
in answering the question "OK, what is the Next HTML?"

There is a great deal of interest in diversifying the types of
documents used on the web.  There is waning support for the idea
that there is one homogeneous language which supports all web
documents.  People are voting, at least with their feet, to
develop diversified Aps in XML.

There is an incipient realization that we don't have our act
together on mix/match rules for the technologies developed to
serve these disparate demands.

And a nagging feeling that certain demands such as accessibility
and internationalization should be solved globally, or at least
in consistent ways for all applications.

Out of this, I see two work areas that are compelling.  Both are
concerned with next steps as we move beyond the present HTML web,
but neither is HTML-specific:

	1) Modularity for Web Ap domains -- both in terms of
	technical foundations, and process steps, how do we
	assure that we are not inventing a tower of Babel?

	2) A core library of mini-Aps -- developing selected subdomains
	such as international text and accessible navigation
	that should by default be incorporated in all Web Aps.

The WAI has a strong direct interest in the second.

I myself believe that for the WAI to succeed that the first must
be solved as well (so that broad-based requirements are
effectively served in conjunction with specialized requirements).

Al

Received on Friday, 15 May 1998 10:53:50 UTC