- From: Lynne Rosenthal <lynne.rosenthal@nist.gov>
- Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 19:18:30 -0400
- To: Karl Dubost <karl@w3.org>, www-qa-wg@w3.org
>A.1 Conformance clause is "paramount" > >With a good conformance clause, a specification comes close to full >conformance to this Specification Guidelines. > > """KD: I would like to know what was the meaning > of paramount in this context, and I think > we would like to change it because I don't see > how to translate the concepts in other languages. > It might be difficult to understand. Any suggestions?""" possible substitutions for paramount is: fundamental or essential > """KD: Moved this section out of the principle to put it > here as an intro.""" > >The conformance section of a specification -- commonly called the >Conformance Clause -- is a high-level description of what is required of >implementers and application developers. It, in turn, may refer to other >parts of the specification for some details. Ideally, it is the root >source from which readers can find any conformance-related information. > >For some specifications, the conformance landscape may be plain and >simple, and the conformance clause template may be almost all that is >needed [Example?]. For others, the conformance landscape will be complex >or convoluted, and the advanced details and topics of these specification >guidelines -- topics like multiple intersecting Dimensions of Variability >-- may be invaluable. careful using Dimensions of Variability, since this is not fully described in the document - perhaps not capitalizing DoV will work or better yet refer to the section on Managing Variability (section D) >Principle: > Include a conformance clause. > >What does it mean? > For starters, the conformance clause needs to answer the > all-important question: what may conform and how? It may, for conformance > purposes, partition the technology into functional subsets, such as > profiles, levels, or other structures. Additionally it may specify the > permissibility of extensions, options, and alternative approaches and how > they are to be handled. > >Why care? > A well done conformance clause brings most of the benefit of > these specification guidelines for the least effort. Almost all of > SpecGL's significant advice -- normative Principles and recommended Good > Practices alike -- are satisfied with a good conformance clause. s/done/constructed/ awkward. Suggest: A well constructed conformance achieves almost all the benefits advocated by these specification guidelines. >Technique > 1. Simple, complete the conformance clause template and put the > result into the specification. > > """KD: Do we have a conformance template?""" Lofton is working on something as part of the NIST deliverable. He should have something soon. >To be honest, answering the questions in the conformance clause template >may not be a simple matter, and may lead the Working Group into thorny >issues. However, these are questions that must be answered if the >specification is to be successful, i.e., if it is to foster multiple high >quality interoperating implementations. > 2. Create a item in the table of content for your conformance > section. > 3. If your technology is made of multiple individual > recommendations, create a table of content item for Conformance, and > explain that the Conformance section is in another document. > >Examples > > * Ruby > * SVG
Received on Tuesday, 3 August 2004 19:18:49 UTC