RE: [W3C Webmob] Profiles?

(Marcos wrote)
> 
> 
> > Sorry, can you clarify what you mean by profiles? I'm not sure what that is.
> 
> Lists of standards that something must adhere to. So, mobile browsers should have adhered to all the standards detailed on the "Coremob" profile.
 
Oh, please please please no! Please let's not do that. Those silly lists are really unhelpful and constantly fall out of date (and are actually harmful in that they put a ceiling on what standards are to be supported by user agents). WAC tried to do this and it failed miserably, and so have a whole bunch of other organizations that don't get the Web. 

One of the main reasons why we have living standards now is to put an end to profiles - i.e., the platform wants to be constantly updated (a platform that accesses constantly updating applications but can't update itself can only harm the Web... as legacy browsers once did before folks moved to an evergreen development model - but we are still seeing how toxic non-updating browsers can be in Android 2.3 and old version of Windows where people are stuck on IE8... poor souls). 

Profiles encourage people to reference dated/versioned specs (very bad!), which are what stagnate the Web. Instead, for example, if one references WHATWG HTML, it means "keep up with this living and always improving thing". That's much better and how the Web really works (or, ideally, how we want it to work).  

<bryan> The existence of this IG is a reflection on the need for contextual (e.g. mobile, or TV) focus on use cases, techniques, and technologies that are most relevant in that context. We do gain by creating these silly lists, because we are in the real world evaluating devices every day per priorities, and *someone* has to do that. If it's not W3C, from its view above the contextual fray, then it will be GSMA or some other organization (WAC.next?). These orgs *do* "get" the Web, and continually pressure vendors to extend and solidify it per real-world priorities.

Received on Wednesday, 22 January 2014 20:01:09 UTC