Where do other W3C specification put the conformance section?

Hi,

One of the open issues for EARL Schema is "Move conformance section 
to the top of the document" (<http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/EARL10/issues>).
The commenter's rationale was:
<blockquote>
Conformance criteria for languages like this have to be treated
carefully. What you are doing is providing a route into implementing
the language. You should have conformance at the top of a
specification, not at the bottom. Conformance is the recipe for
creation, in a sense. You want to give people a sense that there is
some single concrete format that they can learn quickly, implement
precisely, and test for consistency. Conformance doesn't just help
with the third of these processes, but *all three*.
</blockquote>
<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-earl10-comments/2011May/0002.html>

W3C specifications vary on where they put conformance sections: some 
specifications put it at the top, some at the bottom, some others in 
an appendix, and some even discuss conformance in more than one place 
(SMIL 2.x).
There seems to be no consistency between specification from the same 
"family" or W3C Activity. There is sometimes inconsistency between 
two parts of the same spec: XML Schema Part 1 has the conformance 
section at the top, while XML Schema Part 2 has it at the bottom.
The specifications in the OWL 2 family (except "RIF RDF and OWL 
Compatibility") typically refer to another spec for conformance: "OWL 
2 Web Ontology Language Conformance".

I have checked a few specifications and categorised them by the 
location of their conformance section.

(Tip: If you can't sleep tonight, don't take a sleeping pill. 
Instead, read the list below.)



At the top:

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance (W3C Recommendation 27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-conformance-20091027/>:
"This document describes the conditions that OWL 2 tools must satisfy 
in order to be conformant with the language specification. It also 
presents a common format for OWL 2 test cases that both illustrate 
the features of the language and can be used for testing conformance."
And see more specifically Chapter 2: "Conformance":
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-conformance-20091027/#Conformance_.28Normative.29>

- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 5-May-1999):
Chapter 5 out of 6, but chapter 6 contains all the checkpoints: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#Conformance>

- Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 3 
February 2000):
Chapter 1.3: <http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG10/#conformance>

- XHTML 1.0 (Recommendation January 2000, revised August 2002):
Chapter 3: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#normative>http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#normative>

- XHTML Basic (Recommendation December 2000; XHTML Basic 1.1 2nd 
edition: 23 November 2010):
Chapter 2.1: <http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/#s2.1>

- XHTML 1.1 - Module-based XHTML (Recommendation May 2001; 2nd 
edition: 23 November 2010):
Chapter 2: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/conformance.html#s_conform>http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/conformance.html#s_conform>

- Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) Version 3.0 (W3C 
Recommendation 21 October 2010):
Chapter 2.3: <http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML3/chapter2.html#interf.genproc>

- Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) Version 1.0 (W3C 
Recommendation 14 October 2008):
Chapter 3.2: <http://www.w3.org/TR/pronunciation-lexicon/#S3.2>

- Speech Synthesis Markup Language 1.0 (Recommendation September 2004):
Chapter 2.2: <http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/#S2.2>

- Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1 (W3C 
Recommendation 7 September 2010):
Chapter 2.2: <http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis11/#S2.2>

- CSS Level 2 (Recommendation May 1998, revised 11 April 2008):
Chapter 3: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-CSS2-20080411/conform.html>

- Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification 
(W3C Recommendation 07 June 2011):
Chapter 3: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/REC-CSS2-20110607/conform.html>

- HTML 4.01 Specification (W3C Recommendation 24 December 1999):
Chapter 4: <http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/conform.html>

- WebCGM 1.0 2nd release (Recommendation December 2001):
Chapter 1.5: <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-WebCGM/REC-01-CGM-Intro.html#webcgm_1_5>

- Associating Style Sheets with XML documents 1.0 (Second Edition) 
(W3C Recommendation 28 October 2010):
Chapter 2 (in a rather short spec): 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/REC-xml-stylesheet-20101028/#conformance-requirements>

- XML Schema Part 1: Structures Second Edition (W3C Recommendation 28 
October 2004):
Chapter 2.4: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-1-20041028/#concepts-conformance>




At the bottom:

- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (W3C Recommendation 
11 December 2008):
Last chapter before the appendices: <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#conformance>

- Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 (W3C Working 
Draft 21 July 2011):
Last chapter before the appendices: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-ATAG20-20110721/#Conformance>

- User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 17 
December 2002):
Chapter 3 out of 6 chapters, but chapter 2 contains all the 
guidelines: <http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/conformance.html#Conformance>

- User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0 (W3C Working Draft 
19 July 2011):
Last chapter before the appendices: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-UAAG20-20110719/#conformance>

- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 (W3C Candidate 
Recommendation 18 January 2011):
Chapter 8: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/CR-wai-aria-20110118/conformance>

- XForms 1.0 Basic Profile (W3C Candidate Recommendation 14 October 2003):
Chapter 3: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/CR-xforms-basic-20031014/#id2606183> (out 
of 3 chapters, followed by 2 appendices).

- XForms 1.0 (Third Edition) (W3C Recommendation 29 October 2007):
Chapter 12: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-xforms-20071029/#conform>

- XForms 1.1 (W3C Recommendation 20 October 2009):
Chapter 12: <http://www.w3.org/TR/xforms/#conform>

- MathML 2.0 (Second Edition)(Recommendation 21 October 2003):
Chapter 7.2.1 MathML Conformance: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-MathML2-20031021/chapter7.html#id.7.2.1>http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-MathML2-20031021/chapter7.html#id.7.2.1> 
(one but last chapter; chapter 8 is followed by appendices A-L)

- Speech Recognition Grammar Specification Version 1.0 (SRGS, W3C 
Recommendation 16 March 2004):
Chapter 5: <http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-grammar/#S5>

- Speech Recognition Grammar Specification 1.0 (Recommendation March 2004):
Chapter 5: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-speech-grammar-20040316/#S5>http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-speech-grammar-20040316/#S5>

- CSS Level 1 (Recommendation December 1996, revised January 1999):
Chapter 7: <http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1/#css1-conformance>
(Appendix B contains a normative grammar: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1#appendix-b>http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1#appendix-b>.)

- Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Second Edition) (W3C 
Recommendation 10 November 2003):
Chapter 15: <http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/#15Conformance>

- XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 16 November 1999):
Chapter 17: <http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116#conformance>

- XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 2.0 (W3C Recommendation 23 January 2007):
Chapter 21: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-xslt20-20070123/#conformance>

- XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization (Second Edition) (W3C 
Recommendation 14 December 2010):
Chapter 10: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/REC-xslt-xquery-serialization-20101214/#conformance>

- XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 16 November 1999):
Chapter 6: <http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116/#section-Conformance>

- XQuery and XPath Full Text 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 17 March 2011):
Chapter 5: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/REC-xpath-full-text-10-20110317/#id-tq-conformance>
Chapter 6: XQueryX Conformance: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/REC-xpath-full-text-10-20110317/#id-xqueryx-full-text-conformance>

- XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition (W3C Recommendation 28 
October 2004):
Chapter 5, just before the appendices: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-2-20041028/#conformance>

- Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition) (W3C 
Recommendation 26 November 2008):
Chapter 5: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126/#sec-conformance>

- Namespaces in XML 1.0 (Third Edition) (W3C Recommendation 8 December 2009):
Chapter 7: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-xml-names-20091208/#Conformance>

- Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1 (Second Edition) (W3C 
Recommendation 16 August 2006):
Chapter 5: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml11-20060816/#sec-conformance>

- Namespaces in XML 1.1 (Second Edition) (W3C Recommendation 16 August 2006):
Chapter 7 Conformance of Documents: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-names11-20060816/#Conformance>
Chapter 8 Conformance of Processors: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-names11-20060816/#ProcessorConformance>

- RIF RDF and OWL Compatibility (W3C Recommendation 22 June 2010):
Chapter 6: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/REC-rif-rdf-owl-20100622/#Conformance_Clauses>




In an appendix:

- SVG 1.0 (Recommendation September 2001):
Appendix G: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-SVG-20010904/conform.html#ConformingSVGStandAloneFiles>http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-SVG-20010904/conform.html#ConformingSVGStandAloneFiles>

- SVG 1.1 (Recommendation January 2003; 2nd edition: 16 August 2011):
Appendix G: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/conform.html#ConformingSVGStandAloneFiles>http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/conform.html#ConformingSVGStandAloneFiles>

- Mobile SVG Profiles: SVG Tiny and SVG Basic (Recommendation January 
2003, edited in place 15 June 2009):
Appendix F: <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGMobile/#sec-conformance>

- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 Specification (W3C 
Recommendation 22 December 2008):
Appendix D: <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGTiny12/conform.html>

- VoiceXML 2.0 (Recommendation March 2004):
Appendix F: 
<<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-voicexml20-20040316/#dmlAConformance>http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-voicexml20-20040316/#dmlAConformance>

- Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.1 (W3C Recommendation 
19 June 2007):
Appendix C: <http://www.w3.org/TR/voicexml21/#sec-conform>

- Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML Version 1.0 (W3C Recommendation 
05 July 2011):
Appendix J: <http://www.w3.org/TR/ccxml/#conformance>

- Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR) Version 1.0 
(W3C Recommendation 5 April 2007):
Appendix A: <http://www.w3.org/TR/semantic-interpretation/#SIA>

- State Chart XML (SCXML): State Machine Notation for Control 
Abstraction (W3C Working Draft 26 April 2011):
Appendix C: <http://www.w3.org/TR/scxml/#conformance>

- XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0 (Second Edition) (W3C Recommendation 
14 December 2010):
Appendix F: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/REC-xpath20-20101214/#id-xpath-conformance>




Somewhere in the middle:

- RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised) (W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004):
Chapter 5.5: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-syntax-grammar-20040210/#section-conformance>




In more than one location:

- Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL 2.1) (W3C 
Proposed Recommendation 27 September 2005):
Chapter 2.5: SMIL host language and SMIL integration set conformance: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/PR-SMIL2-20050927/smil-modules.html#smilModulesNSSMILConformance>
Chapter 13.3: Document Conformance & SMIL 2.1 Language Conformance, 
...: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/PR-SMIL2-20050927/smil21-profile.html#q3>

- SMIL 2.0 2nd edition (Recommendation January 2005):
Chapter 2.4: SMIL Conformance (SMIL host language and SMIL 
integration set conformance): 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-SMIL2-20050107/smil-modules.html#smilModulesNSSMILConformance>
Chapter 13.3: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-SMIL2-20050107/smil20-profile.html#q3>:
   Document 
conformance<http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-SMIL2-20050107/smil20-profile.html#SMILProfileNS-DocumentConformance> 
& SMIL 2.0 Language Conformance.


Other cases:

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Direct Semantics (W3C Recommendation 27 
October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-direct-semantics-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Mapping to RDF Graphs (W3C 
Recommendation 27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-mapping-to-rdf-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Profiles (W3C Recommendation 27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-profiles-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language RDF-Based Semantics (W3C Recommendation 
27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-rdf-based-semantics-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Structural Specification and 
Functional-Style Syntax (W3C Recommendation 27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-syntax-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL 2 Web Ontology Language XML Serialization (W3C Recommendation 
27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-xml-serialization-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- rdf:PlainLiteral: A Datatype for RDF Plain Literals (W3C 
Recommendation 27 October 2009):
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-rdf-plain-literal-20091027/>
This spec refers to the "OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance" 
spec for conformance.

- OWL Web Ontology Language Reference (W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004):
No conformance section, but an RDF Schema for OWL in Appendix B: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-ref-20040210/#appB>

- OWL Web Ontology Language Semantics and Abstract Syntax (W3C 
Recommendation 10 February 2004): 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-semantics-20040210/>. No 
conformance section.

- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Snapshot 2010 (W3C Working Draft 02 
December 2010):
no conformance section: <http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-css-2010-20101202/>

- Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 1.0 
Specification (W3C Recommendation 15-June-1998):
No conformance section, but a DTD at the end: 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-smil/#smil-dtd>.

- MathML 1.01 (Recommendation 1997, revised 7 July 1999) has no 
conformance section. The section about parsing MathML
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-MathML/appendixA.html) states that "MathML 
documents should be validated using the XML DTD below".

- RDF Vocabulary Description Language 1.0: RDF Schema (W3C 
Recommendation 10 February 2004): 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-schema-20040210/>
No conformance requirements.

- RDF Semantics (W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004): 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-mt-20040210/>.
No conformance requirements.


(Many of the specs in this list come from my earlier message from 
November 2005 at 
<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2005OctDec/0442.html> 
where I checked how many W3C specs required validation.)

Best regards,

Christophe


-- 
Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven - Dept. of Electrical Engineering - SCD
Research Group on Document Architectures
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Received on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 16:15:51 UTC