Re: Progressive Implementation Report

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007, Doug Schepers wrote:
> 
> But in addition to the W3C timeline, there are likely to be 
> implementations of particular features well in advance.  This is not 
> unique to this specification, but I suspect it will be a bit more 
> extreme than for other specs.
> 
> This would be good information for both developers and for the HTML 
> Working Group itself to have.

I agree. To that end, I created a specification annotation system that 
allows people to mark how each section is being implemented. For example, 
see the canvas section:

   http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/section-the-canvas.html#the-canvas

The icons in the top left show what the implementation status is. (There 
are tooltips if you want to get more details.)


> Browser vendors may assume that something is stable, when it hasn't yet 
> gotten thorough review by the WG

To help avoid that, the above annotation system shows the current status 
of each section.

Also, I keep in close contact with all the browser vendors who are willing 
to talk to me, so as to help prioritisation of spec development based on 
the day to day changes in browser development plans. If any vendors are 
not yet in close contact with me but wish to be, please feel free to 
contact me directly (ian@hixie.ch). I keep all plans in confidence, if 
that is a concern.


> I propose a progressive implementation report, which shows not only 
> which browser implements which features, but what the priorities and 
> timeline for each browser are.

I agree that this would be quite useful. If anyone wants to volunteer to 
coordinate such an effort and write the relevant reports, that would be 
great. It would require close coordination with the various browser 
vendors, as well as the people writing test suites. If anyone does want to 
volunteer to do this, feel free to contact me, I would be happy to help 
where I can.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Sunday, 23 December 2007 06:57:47 UTC