Re: W3C/WHATWG overlap going forward

On 12/12/2014 07:38 AM, Henri Sivonen wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 6:35 PM, Robin Berjon <robin@w3.org> wrote:
>> I think we're all agreed that publishing a specification for Slightly
>> Different Kitchens isn't ideal. The open question is: what is?
>
> I was thinking of Shiny Donkey Coalition referencing the toast
> grilling algorithm in the Rainbow Unicorn Kitchen Specification and
> noting that the Shiny Donkey Coalition, at this time, repudiates
> remarks about buttering toast and about pizza-ordering fridges.
>
> It seems to me that the problem is that Steve doesn't want to risk
> people seeing the competing toast buttering remarks at all.

I would encourage you to refrain from making these types of conclusions 
as they don't further the discussion.  Steve has questioned this 
conclusion of yours[1].  The fact that the W3C HTML Recommendation[2] 
prominently links to the WHATWG HTML Living Standard would also indicate 
that your conclusion is incorrect.

>> Do you think it would be possible to address the granularity issue from the
>> WHATWG end?
>
> I haven't talked with Hixie about it lately, but, previously, the
> attempt to spin off Window was a bad experience, so I don't really
> expect WHATWG HTML to become modularized. Other than the WHATWG HTML
> spec, it seems to me that specs over at the WHATWG are already
> sufficiently granular.
>
>> I don't know if it would be under the specific form that you are suggesting,
>> but at some point I would love it if we could publish a specification that
>> basically says "The Web Platform is this, that, and the other thing over
>> there." But we're a number of collective steps away from that.
>
> What do you think is the current main blocker for the W3C normatively
> referencing a WHATWG spec over there?

For starters, we would need a stable reference.  As a practical matter, 
it would be difficult for a stable recommendation to repudiate remarks 
about buttering toast and pizza-ordering fridges that at one time 
appeared in a moving target.

- Sam Ruby


[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-admin/2014Dec/0018.html
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/#status-of-this-document

Received on Friday, 12 December 2014 14:11:25 UTC