EARL Use Cases

Hi,

Ref: <http://www.w3.org/TR/EARL10/#user-scenarios>

Based upon the existing user scenarios in the EARL spec and the most recent comments on the list, here are some EARL use cases for discussion. Is there anything missing?

1. increase coverage of tests
 - combining the results from several evaluation tools potentially allows users to increase the coverage of automated tests (what tool A can not test automatically, tool B might be able to)

2. benchmark / compare test results
 - tools can be calibrated on a predefined set of tests (preferably WCAG 2.0 test suites). deviations from the expected results can be effectively measured and analyzed.

3. support multiple report formats
 - roles such as application developers, content authors, or project managers have slightly different report requirements (line numbers, error messages, test descriptions, etc). EARL needs to support as many formats as possible.

4. facilitate result repositories
 - in many examples some form of repository was described. for example a team of testers inputs results into a database, or a team of developers address one issue after the other.

5. track / analyze test results
 - EARL can assist bug tracking, work flow, and data mining by providing a unified format for describing test results. maybe EARL can provide more support ("hooks") for this type of stuff (e.g. introducing "open/closed" flags?)

7. profile / adapt Web content
 - IMS or specialized search engines are examples where EARL reports could be used to profile Web content and possible adapt it (for example a browser could remove blinking images from Web pages)

8. separation of user interface
 - evaluation tools could be mere engines (plug-ins, modules, Web services, etc) and directly export their results into specialized user interfaces or authoring tools.


Regards,
  Shadi


---                                                    --- 
Shadi Abou-Zahra,  Web Accessibility Specialist for Europe 
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),        http://www.w3.org/ 
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), http://www.w3.org/WAI/ 
Evaluation and Repair Tools WG,  http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/ 
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Received on Monday, 21 February 2005 15:14:56 UTC