View Mode Media Feature review

aloha!

this is a fullfilment of an action item assigned to me by the PFWG to 
review the "View Mode Media Feature" document; the document, is an 
explanatory document, which defines terms which relate to various "view 
modes" -- this is more an informational review than a critique, as i 
believes it behooves all WAI working groups to agree-upon and converge 
upon the common vocabulary that the "View Mode Media Feature" document 
seeks to provide, which is why this has been posted to the WAI-XTECH 
list, rather than the member-confidential PF emailing list.

the first important part of this document is the list of definitions, 
enumerated at:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-view-mode-20100420/#definitions

QUOTE
View mode
    The view mode is the manner in which a Web application is presented 
    to a user that corresponds to the metaphors and functionalities in 
    use on a given platform. This specification defines a number of 
    view modes that a user agent is expected to match to comparable 
    platform-specific situations. 

Chrome
    The chrome comprises the visible parts of the user agent that do 
    not depend on the content (e.g. window decorations, tool bars, 
    title bars, menus). 

Immersive
    A user interface is said to be immersive when its controls and 
    components are created to match the specific style of the application 
    instead of using the chrome and widgets of the platform. 

Media feature
    The term media feature is defined in [MEDIAQ].
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-css3-mediaqueries-20090915/

Screen area
    The area of the screen that is generally available for applications, 
    excluding parts that the system generally keeps to itself (e.g. a bar 
    at the top for menus, time, or context, or at the bottom with a list 
    of running applications). 

Web application
    A Web application is an application built and shipped using Web 
    technology that may be running inside of a browser, as a widget, or 
    in another type of container designed for this purpose. 

Widgets
    The term widget is defined in [WIDGETS]. 
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-widgets-20091201/

Viewport
    The term viewport is defined in [CSS21].
    http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-CSS2-20090423/visuren.html#x1
UNQUOTE

second is the explanation of the "view-mode" media feature

QUOTE
The view-mode media feature describes the mode in which the Web 
application is being shown as a running application on the 
platform.

* Value: windowed | floating | fullscreen | maximized | minimized 
* Applies to: visual and tactile media types 
* Accepts min/max prefixes: No 

A user agent should make a best-effort attempt at matching the great 
variety of platform conventions in which it may be running a Web 
application to the list of view modes defined in this specification so 
that the view-mode media feature may describe common situations in a 
manner that is useful to authors. 
UNQUOTE

the third important component of the View Mode Media Feature is the 
enumeration of values which the view-mode media feature accepts:

QUOTE
5.1 View modes

The view-mode media feature accepts the following enumerated values:

windowed
    Describes a Web application running in a windowed manner, which is to 
    say with chrome and without occupying the entire screen area. 

floating
    Describes a Web application providing a more immersive interface, 
    running in a windowed manner but without chrome, and with the 
    viewport's initial background being transparent such that other 
    system items (other applications, the display's background...) can 
    be seen through parts of the viewport that are not being painted 
    to. 

fullscreen
    Describes a Web application that is occupying the entirety of the 
    display, including the parts normally excluded from the screen area 
    (e.g. a fullscreen video). 

maximized
    Describes a Web application that is occupying the entirety of the 
    screen area 

minimized
    Describes a Web application docked or otherwise minimised, but with a 
    dynamic graphical representation being available nevertheless (i.e. 
    the application isn't entirely hidden, or maybe its icon is still 
    shown and it has control over what it contains). This may correspond 
    for instance to a thumbnail of the application's content being shown. 
UNQUOTE

gregory.
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LANGUAGE, n.  The music with which we charm the serpents guarding 
another's treasure.     -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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            Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
     Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html
UBATS: United Blind Advocates for Talking Signs: http://ubats.org
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Received on Wednesday, 5 May 2010 15:24:08 UTC