Re: User Agent Working Group Telecon - 05 Feb 2009

My action items:

 > ACTION: JR to Look at "application" in the defn of platform
 > accessibility architecture.

JR: I've thought about this and I'm OK with "applications".


 > ACTION: JR to Write-up a clarification of WHICH web apps are
 > user agents and which are not.

FIRST, I think this is our most up to date definition of user agent 
(from: 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2009JanMar/att-0015/00-part 
sorry if I'm wrong):

A user agent is any software that retrieves, renders and facilitates end 
user interaction with Web content.



HERE'S MY PROPOSED TEXT (for a "Definition of user agent" section)

The definition of user agent applies to:

* Web browsers (e.g. "Base browsers", Web-based browsers)
* Browser plug-ins (e.g., for Flash, PDF, MPEG, RDF, etc.)
* Media players for Web content (e.g., MPEG player)

Note: User agents may be Web-based, but not all Web applications are 
user agents. To qualify as a user agent a Web application would have to 
convert Web content from one format to another or process the content 
such that end user interaction is facilitated beyond the services 
provided by the "base" browser. For example, some online map 
applications render SVG into PNG images and provide rich end user 
interaction with the maps in the form of zooming, panning, etc.



Cheers,
Jan

Received on Monday, 9 February 2009 20:50:47 UTC