RE: definition of User Agent

Not sure this one works.

 

This is too HTML specific.  There is no Style sheet for a windows media file
yet it has a user agent (WMF player).  

 


Gregg

 -- ------------------------------ 
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. 
Professor - Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
Director - Trace R & D Center 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 

 

 


  _____  


From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On Behalf
Of Tim Boland
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 8:46 AM
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: Re: definition of User Agent

Another resource: CSS2.1 [1] defines a "user agent" as:

"A user agent is any program that interprets a document written in the
document language and applies associated style sheets according to the terms
of this specification. A user agent may display a document, read it aloud,
cause it to be printed, convert it to another format, etc. 
An HTML user agent is one that supports the HTML 2.x, HTML 3.x, or HTML 4.x
specifications. A user agent that supports XHTML [XHTML], but not HTML (as
listed in the previous sentence) is not considered an HTML user agent for
the purpose of conformance with this specification." 

Are there any parts of this definition that may be of interest to us?   I
think it's good to be as consistent
as possible and approriate across W3C specifications, or to articulate the
reasons why such consistency
cannot be achieved.. 

[1]: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/conform.html#q1

Thanks and best wishes
Tim Boland NIST

PS - The term "user" is also defined in CSS2.1

At 12:00 AM 10/30/2005 -0500, you wrote:



xmlns:ns0="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"> 

I just noticed the definition of user agent in our guidelines

 

It is 

 

user agent

In this document, the term "user agent" is used in two ways:

1.      The software and documentation components that together, conform
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-USERAGENT/conformance.html#Conformance>  to the
requirements of the User Agent <http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/>  Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0 (UAAG 1.0). This is the most common use of the term in this
document and is the usage in the UAAG checkpoints.

2.      Any software that retrieves and renders Web content for users. This
may include Web browsers, media players, plug-ins, and other programs
including assistive
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-USERAGENT/glossary.html#def-assistive-technology>
technologies that help in retrieving and rendering Web content.

Note:  This term was taken verbatim from User
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-USERAGENT/glossary.html>  Agent Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0 (UAAG 1.0) Glossary 

 

 

The note states that this was taken verbatim from UAAG.   Actually this is
an adaptation of the definition in UAAG because it would make no sense in
our document as written. 

Here is the definition verbatim from UAAG.

 

User agent

In this document, the term "user agent" is used in two ways: 

1.      The software and documentation components that together, conform
<http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/conformance.html#Conformance>  to the
requirements of this document. This is the most common use of the term in
this document and is the usage in the checkpoints.

2.      Any software that retrieves and renders Web content for users. This
may include Web browsers, media players, plug-ins
<http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/glossary.html#def-plug-in> , and other programs
including assistive
<http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/glossary.html#def-assistive-technology>
technologies that help in retrieving and rendering Web content.

 

 

 

First we should change our note since it isn t accurate.

 

Second I wonder if our adaptation of UAAG definition is accurate for our
guidelines.  Isn t the second definition the one we mean most?  Not the
first?

In fact isn t the second definition the only thing we mean by the term user
agent? 

 

 

 


Gregg

------------------------

Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. 
Professor - Depts of Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
Director - Trace R & D Center 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 
< <http://trace.wisc.edu/> http://trace.wisc.edu/> FAX 608/262-8848  
For a list of our list discussions http://trace.wisc.edu/lists/

 <http://trace.wisc.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/>