View from the Outside: Real World Perspectives on the W3C
A presentation at W3C TPAC 2007 in in Cambridge, UK by Aaron Gustafson
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN V iew fr om the Outside
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN W elcome & Opening Remarks
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN The Spher e of Tiphar eth and the Str ength of Foundation
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Meet the Panelists
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Aaron Gustafson i s the
founder of and principal consultant for Easy! Designs, LLC , a boutique web consultancy . In addition to his advocacy work through the W eb Standards Project (W aSP) and the CSS Eleven , Aaron is also an
author and educator and serves as T echnical
Editor for A List Apart . photo credit: Cindy Li
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Patrick Haney is not a sausage. He is however
a User Interface Designer at Harvard University where he works to improve the usability , accessibility and design of course- related and department websites. photo credit: Cindy Li
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Molly E. Holzschlag is an independent W eb standards and practices
educator and evangelist . She is the author of over 35 books on web-related topics and works with companies, organizations and individuals world wide to
define, refine, create and troubleshoot technical and process issues as they relate to front end W eb development .
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Matthew Oliphant has been designing interfaces and interactions for the web primarily in the corporate sector , with an eye always on usability , for ten years. He writes about usability and related topics at usabilityworks.org
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Stephanie T roeth
heads up the studio at CloudRaker , an interactive agency in Montréal, Canada. She works alongside a talented team in the spirit of creating sites that meet best W eb practices as well as client needs . Steph has also been an active volunteer across groups
that advocate best web practices, primarily with the W eb Standards Project (W aSP) but also
with others.
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN 1.
What is the r ole of a specification, or “standar d”?
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN 2.
Wher e is it most appr opriate to compete: UI? Br owser featur es? Spec implementations? Between specifications?
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN 3. How can we impr ove the W3C pr ocess?
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN 4.
How do we cr eate common goals and consistent priorities?
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN 5.
How do we addr ess the critical challenge of outr each & education?
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Pathways to Success
The Broken W orld: Solving the Browser Problem Once and For All Molly E. Holzschlag: July 2007 Pathways to Success Cr eate Comm on Baselin es Clarify Ambi gu ous Specificati on s U se T r an spar en t Developm en t Cycles K eep an Open Di alog with Comm unity Foster Even ts an d N etworkin g Compete On U ser In terf ace an d Br owser Featur es , n ot Stan d ar ds Cr eate an d Follow Real T est an d U se Cases
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Q & A
W3C TP/AC 2007 Boston FROM THE OUTSIDE, IN Additional Discussion: 1. Casual chatter during br eak dir ectly after session 2. Bir ds of a Feather T ables @ Lunch
Whether you're a Web designer, developer, usability specialist or work in any one of the myriad jobs that go into making great Web sites, it's clear that the W3C has significant influence on how you work. Whether it's via the specifications that go into the software and agents that you use daily, or as the cornerstone of educational material, the W3C is involved somewhere in the process. But it's clear that there's been a gap between the real-world and the internal workings of the W3C. As Working Groups such as HTML 5 and CSS become more open, so must our conversations open. In this session, the W3C will have the opportunity to listen to real-world perspectives, respond to criticisms and praise and keep alive the ongoing commitment to authentic conversation and active community participation.
Panel moderated by Molly E. Holzschlag Other panelists: Patrick Haney, Matthew Oliphant, Stephanie Troeth
Resources
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
