Using the terms "normative" and "informative" in EO documents

EOWG and others who want to comment,

Question for discussion on the EOWG mailing list:
How much should we use the terms "normative" and "informative" in our basic introductory, education, and outreach material related to WCAG and the other WAI technical specifications? Is it good to introduce and reinforce these terms, which are used in the technical documents, in our basic material? Or is it unnecessary to complicate the our basic material with what is to some jargony terminology?

(Note that WCAG 2.0 itself provides definitions of the terms.)

Background:

Last week in discussing "How to Update Your Web Site from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0", we considered adding these terms in: "The WCAG 2.0 technical standard itself is a stable, normative document that will not change once it is completed. However, Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0 are supporting informative resources that can be updated. As technology develops, they will be enhanced with additional tips, techniques, and best practices." See the next-to-last paragraph in <http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/transition1to2/transition1to2-20081121.html> for how it's formatted and linked.

Here's an example of not using the actual terms: "Thus with WCAG 2.0, there are extensive supporting materials, which are advisory documents. The WCAG 2.0 guidelines document itself is the only document intended to be a Web standard..." - <http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/wcag2faq#docs>

There are several places where we talk about the different types of documents, for example:
* Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents (old draft) <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20.php>
* The WCAG 2.0 Documents (old draft) http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/wcag20-docs
* How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process: <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/w3c-process.php>
* WAI-ARIA Overview <http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php>

Your thoughts on whether or not we should use "normative" and "informative" in some of these types of EO documents? If some but not all, which?

Regards,
~Shawn

-----
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
e-mail: shawn@w3.org
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/

Received on Tuesday, 25 November 2008 13:54:32 UTC