once more with word wrap - what to do with Web Services

Something is beginning to come together in terms of a strategy for how to 
access server side options in web content.  At least for the case where 
content is pre-packaged as 'portlets' for integration into different sites 
using portal technology at the web server.

There is a standing consensus in the work on WCAG 2.0 that content components 
have to support options, the options have to include a vanilla, client-
repurposable form, and some things like that.

But there is a more concrete strawman as to how to do this that says the 
objects in the 'universal' form of portlets should be usable in a screen 
reader as 'readlets' that adapt to the local user interface conventions and 
culture of the screen reader.  In legacy friendly HTML these portlets could 
appear as OBJECT elements or frame contents, and there is an open opportunity 
to make sure OBJECT and XFrames in XHTML 2.0 support whatever mode of AT 
software access and control is required.  The portals could possibly only 
have to support some sort of protocol tunneling to give the customer access 
to the choices that are available from the portal's suppliers, if there is a 
standard for the accessible form of portlets.  And the wire protocol 
representation of a universal morph of portlets would want to be in something 
not unlike the Abstract Alternate Interface Markup Language which is a 
working draft in the INCITS V2 standards committee.

This strategy touches the charter turf of multiple working groups, so it is 
not clear just how it would be hosted in W3C/WAI.  So I am posting here to 
ask to know who would potentially be interested in this line of research and 
development.  It would be good to involve people who might actually work on 
this topic in a smaller conversations about the shape of the table, if were 
to instantiate some sort of continuing activity.

Simple expressions of interest could go to me, to <wai-xtech@w3.org> or to 
this list.

A short thread discussing on this list if there is some other shape that the 
topic should be given could be appropriate.  But sooner or later this topic 
takes committed long-term work and we should find a home off this list for 
that phase of the process.

Al

Example of portlets concept:

<http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/wsrp/presentations/wsia-wsrp_f2f_20020318.ppt>

A tiny amount of background on readlet concept (needs elaboration):


http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-archive/2002Apr/thread.html#30

AAIML and INCITS V2 in relation to Web Services and Server-side techniques:


http://www.ncits.org/tc_home/v2.htm
<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-er-ig/2001Sep/att-0018/01-Oct2001.html>

Al

Received on Sunday, 14 April 2002 14:46:42 UTC