TouchList.identifiedTouch method in Touch Events v1

For Touch Events v1 to become a Recommendation, it needs least two 
interoperable implementations. When we created Touch Events v1, our goal 
was to specify only features that already have interoperable 
implementations [1].

As far as I can tell, the identifiedTouch method of the TouchList 
interface is implemented only in Gecko [2] and BlackBerry OS [3]. This 
is a risk for the v1 spec.  If either Gecko or BlackBerry fails to 
conform to the spec in some other way, then it does not have two 
complete implementations.  In particular, I worry that RIM is no longer 
active in the working group, and may not be ready to update BlackBerry 
OS to fix any conformance issues we find as we complete the test suite.

It might be a good idea to remove identifiedTouch from the v1 spec; this 
would fit the spirit of specifying only what is already interoperable 
today.  Unfortunately we did not identify this as a "feature at risk" in 
our Call for Implementations.  If its removal is considered a 
"substantive change" then removing it would mean returning the spec to 
the working group [4].  I apologize for not identifying this risk sooner.

Another way to mitigate the risk is for another vendor to add support 
for identifiedTouch (along with any other changes needed to conform to 
Touch Events v1).  Are any other vendors planning to implement this method?

[1]: http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/webevents/rev/2d830a098494
[2]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/DOM/TouchList.identifiedTouch
[3]: 
http://blackberry-webworks.github.com/WebWorks-API-Docs/WebWorks-API-Docs-Smartphone-Payment-1.5/view/TouchList.html
[4]: http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/tr.html#return-to-wg

Received on Tuesday, 7 August 2012 16:36:22 UTC