Re: publisher-browser negotiation

This is an area that a lot of people are concerned about, and the
answers are still being worked on.

Two groups that you should be aware of:

 ietf-conneg mailing list
 http://www.imc.org/ietf-conneg/

This group is developing a dictionary (feature registry) of 
such features for use in server/client exchanges controlling
the selection of format details.

 Web Accessibility Initiative
 http://www.w3.org/WAI/

The transclusion possibilties of XML open the door to lots
of ways to make web content flexible and adaptable.  In
the mean time, the Browser Guidelines group of the WAI

 http://www.w3.org/WAI/UI/

is one place where a catalog of the range of interfaces you are
facing (leading to more tool and document techniques to deal with
a range of interfaces) is going to be emerging.

May I put in a plug for the Accessibility Initiative.  People who
browse eyes-free or ears-free or with macular degeneration are
especially sensitive to the robustness of web documents.  Their
needs define the envelope that your documents want to cover.

And we need more people who start from a "publisher" perspective
involved in the WAI, in order to come up with a plan for robust
web content that works for you.

Al Gilman
--
asgilman@access.digex.net

Received on Saturday, 24 January 1998 18:13:40 UTC