Web Browser Standards or Guidelines

To my knowledege there are no official standards for Web Browsers or page
definition (HTML,PDF). HTML is not a standard, it is (today) simply the 
preferred method for coding and accessing a document on the Web. 

Netscape, Mosaic (all of them), Lynx, Acrobat, etc..etc...are all browsers, but 
to my knowledge there are no documents that stipulate standards for designing
and building a web browser.

And we haven't begun to look at authoring tools, servers, or security 
applications.

Questions:

1) Why not? Who would organize them? W3? IETF? ISO? 

2) Are there HTML guidelines? I know there are HTML books/white papers/language
descriptions, but are there specific guidelines for using it? 

3) Are there browser guidelines? How about their viewers and plug-ins? Again,
if this stuff exists, where?

I am doing this for a specific reason: To develop and provide guidelines that 
will assist Web product developers in building Web-based products that are 
also accessible to people with disabilties. 

Classic Example: GUI-based browsers are inherently inaccessible to the blind. 
BUT, if the Netscapes', Microsofts', Quarterdecks', and Adobes' of the world
knew what it would take to make them accessible, they just might be in a better
position to implement the changes

This is how we got the ICADD code into the HTML 2.0 spec. Please feel free to
contact me personally, if you prefer:

paciello@shane.enet.dec.com
mpaciello@webable.com

Regards,

Mike Paciello

 
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|d|i|g|i|t|a|l|
Michael G. Paciello                              Paciello@shane.enet.dec.com
Usability Expertise Center                       Phone: (603) 881-1831 (w)
Program Manager                                  Phone: (603) 598-9544 (soho)
Vision Impaired Information Services (VIIS)      FAX: (603) 881-0120
ViceChair: Electronics Industries Association/Assistive Devices Division 
Chair: International Committee for Accessible Document Design (ICADD)
Member: Project EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information)
Member: Disabilities Access for X (DACx)
Member: NCSA/NSF Mosaic Access Project (MAP)
Member: Universal Access Project (UAP)
Author: ACCESS.TXT
Owner: WebABLE (TM) (WWW Server for Accessibility and Disabilities)
URL: http://www.webable.com
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Received on Friday, 15 December 1995 14:01:54 UTC