Re: 6.2 conforming to w3c recommendations

Phill Jenkins/Austin/IBM wrote:
> 
> Checkpoint 6.2 Use and conform to W3C Recommendations when they are
> available and appropriate for a task. P2.
> 
> Clarifications is needed, for example:
> 
> 1. Checkpoint is somewhat recursive.  How can you conform to this
> checkpoint without conforming to ALL the UAAG checkpoints first?

I'm not sure that's really a problem here. If you're already trying
to conform to this specification, then you mean 6.2 for user
agents. 
 
> 2.  Can a User Agent comply with a recommendation but not provide a user
> interface that supports it?  For example, the UA may render ACRONYM and
> ABBR, but not provide any user interface that notifies the user, allows the
> user to navigate, expand or collapse, etc.

That depends on the requirements of the specification. In the case of
HTML, there is not specified rendering of ACRONYM and ABBR. So there
are no rendering requirements to conform to. There are semantics,
however.
So however the user agent renders ABBR, it at least knows that it is
used to mark up and abbreviation. The UA guidelines doesn't say how
to create user interfaces for markup languages. Only to conform to 
specifications.
 
> 3.  Can a User Agent comply with a recommendation but not support all the
> recommendation or specification? 

That depends on the Recommendation. Each Recommendation specifies its
conformance criteria. We explicitly say "conform to" as opposed to
"implement" (and the glossary explains the difference).

> For example, the UA may support SMIL, but
> not all the attributes.  Although the techniques state: "Each specification
> defines what conformance means for that specification.", that may need to
> be added to the checkpoint note and further explained in the context of
> user agents.
> 
> Regards,
> Phill Jenkins
> IBM Research Division - Accessibility Center

-- 
Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                         +1 831 457-2842
Cell:                        +1 917 450-8783

Received on Tuesday, 14 November 2000 01:00:56 UTC