Re: PFWG comments on Web Notifications

[This is a draft WG reply to the PFWG's last call comments. Comments on the proposed resolution are welcome; if no one objects in a week’s time, this will be the WG’s official response to his comment. -Jon]

On Oct 9, 2013, at 9:21 AM, Michael Cooper <cooper@w3.org> wrote:

> Below are two comments from the Protocols and Formats Working Group on Web Notifications Last Call Working Draft of 22 September 2013 http://www.w3.org/TR/2013/WD-notifications-20130912/. PFWG approval to send these comments is archived at https://www.w3.org/2013/10/09-pf-minutes.html#item04 (Member-only link right now, should become public in a week).
> 
> Comment 1
> 
> 4.2 states - The notification's language specifies the primary language for the notification's title and body. Its value is a valid BCP 47 language tag, or the empty string. The empty string indicates that the primary language is unknown. [LANG]"
> 
> We should add a Note to state that if the primary language is unknown this would be a WCAG violation.

Software often interacts with, transmits, and presents text without knowing which human languages are used in the text. Notification services frequently utilize this text to inform the user (e.g., that the user has received a new email), so we can't expect software to know the human languages used in notification text. We shouldn't require software to do something we're certain it can't accomplish.

> Comment 2
> 
> The API specifies the ability to supply an icon without the ability to specify any text alternative for the icon. We need an ability to provide alternative content for the icon. Given that notifications are created in JS more or less in real time, a plain string is enough (assuming that the internationalisation story is  
> really correct).

Please see prior discussion [1]. The icon’s purpose is decorative and provides no additional information. We should consider an editorial change to make this clearer.

===

Please let us know promptly whether this response satisfies your comments and suggestions.

Jon

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-web-notification/2012Jul/0007.html