Re: Feedback on "The Matrix"

On Wed, 27 Feb 2002, Tantek Celik wrote:

> The "Test Suites" column is currently just a boolean
> (hyperlinked!)  indicator of whether or not there is anything even
> remotely resembling a test suite available for a particular
> technology.
> 
> While this is useful, it would help significantly if the test
> suites which were actually hosted at w3.org used a "W3C" icon
> instead of the "hammer and wrench" icon.

IMHO, "being hosted at w3.org" adds little information about the
quality or even availability of the test suite. Reflecting the state
of the suite (under construction, available, production quality, with
public results database, etc.) may be a good idea. In some cases,
however, assigning a state may be a controversial action. Rating the
quality of a suite would be even more controversial, of course.

> This will help quickly call out at a glance which specs actually
> have official W3C test suites, vs. which have some sort of test
> suite or plan for a test suite, and which have no form of test
> suite at all.

"Official" has little utility in this context, IMO. Whether I can use
the test suite now is far more important (to me, anyway).

If W3C branding is important, perhaps there should be two columns:
"W3C endorsement" and "state/availability".

The situation become even more complex when several test suites are
available and described on a separate page. In that case, one could
use the state of the "best" (e.g., already available) suite to assign
an icon since people are more likely to use the best tool if given a
choice.

Overall, the current solution may be sufficient. It is definitely the
simplest and least controversial one.

Alex.

Received on Wednesday, 27 February 2002 10:13:18 UTC