Does the 20020821 XForms WD fail to satisfy the Requirements document?

The XForms Requirements document of April 2001, 
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-xhtml-forms-req-20010404, states:

"The same form will be accessible on a full screen display, as a sheet of 
paper or using a handheld computer resting on your palm."

The issues raised yesterday about how to write cross-platform XForms code 
seem to me to suggest that it is either very difficult or impossible to write 
a single XForms form which is accessible cross-platform and cross host 
language.

That (so it seems) being the case there is a case to be made that the XForms 
WG has failed to meet this aim of cross-platform code stated in the XForms 
Requirements document.

Further, the Mission Statement of the XForms WG, 
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/2000/Charter, states "The key idea is to 
separate the user interface and presentation from the data model and logic, 
allowing the same form to be used on a wide variety of devices such as voice 
browsers, handhelds, desktops and even paper."

Again, we have the term "same form" but the very real difficulty of writing 
one piece of code - isn't that what "same form" means? - to run on all user 
agents, whatever the platform.

The XForms WG Charter states that this is "the key idea" of XForms. As I read 
the current WD it seems to me doubtful that it is presently being delivered.

Andrew Watt

Received on Friday, 30 August 2002 03:37:51 UTC