Proposal to expand definition of User Agents

The User Agent guidelines currently define user agent in this way:

"A user agent is an application that retrieves and renders Web content,
including text, graphics, sounds, video, images, and other content types."

I propose we expand that definition to say (new text between asterisks):

"A user agent is an application *or operating system component* that
retrieves and renders Web content, including text, graphics, sounds, video,
images, and other content types."

Why the change? There are technologies that Microsoft does not consider
applications, but rather part of the operating system, that wouldn't be
covered by the User Agent guidelines under the current definition.

Obviously, the OS vs. application issue has received some attention outside
the scope of the WAI, and while I am not prepared to discuss that issue in
detail, I hope we can agree on the broader definition.

Dick Brown
Program Manager, Web Accessibility
Microsoft Corp.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/

Received on Wednesday, 7 June 2000 19:05:35 UTC