W3C

- DRAFT -

Widgets Voice Conference

16 Apr 2009

Agenda

See also: IRC log

Attendees

Present
Art, Josh, Marcos, Arve, Frederick, Jere, Mike, Thomas, Mark
Regrets
Chair
Art
Scribe
Art

Contents


 

 

<scribe> ScribeNick: ArtB

<scribe> Scribe: Art

Date: 16 April 2009

<arve> Is anyone else on the line? I tried saying "Hi" but can't hear anyone

who's here?

<MikeSmith> ArtB: can you please do "Zakim, call Mike-Mobile" again in about 10 minutes?

AB: anyone heard from Robin lately? It would be good if he was here

Review and tweak agenda

AB: agenda submitted on 14 April (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0181.html). One change I propose is to drop PAG status since Rigo's related email (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/member-widgets-pag/2009Apr/0000.html) covers the status, AFAIK.
... any issues with dropping that agenda item?

[None]

AB: any other change requests for the agenda?

[None]

Announcements

JS: I'd like to talk about a widget implementation I saw recently

AB: how about AOB?

JS: OK

Arve: I want to add show and hide proposal to A+E section

AB: OK, we will cover that proposal then

MP: I need to leave after one hour

FH: I need to leave then too

DigSig: Feedback sought on ECDSA Curves:

AB: On April 8 Frederick asked the group for feedback regarding the various ECDSA Curves (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0094.html). Frederick, please give us a short intro and then explain what you want from us and the deadline for feedback.

FH: I sent a note that talked about some of the specific EC curves
... I rephrased the question to the group
... Please get some feedback and let us know
... I think the timing is more critical to the WebApps WG then to XML Sec WG since WebApps wants to go to LC sooner
... any other timing questions?

<fjh> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0094.html

FH: please review the above message and respond within two weeks

<fjh> This message clarifies and sonstrains the request for information regarding the elliptic curve, notes that it reduces the number.

AB: who expects to provide information on the EC curves?

MP: VF will provide feedback
... I think FH's new email does help clarify the EC curve issue
... Not sure about the IPR related to this though

FH: I can't make any authoritative statements; I'm just passing along info from US govt
... TR was saying the intent of my email was to narrow the scope

<tlr> tlr; the question is narrowing the scope of what's asked, based on a perception that responses might be different for some specific curves than they would be for a general requirement

MP: I can give some prelim feedback
... the main issue for us is IPR
... we are going to do some checking to see if the IPR is a major issue for us because it will involve our legal team

FH: thanks Mark; that would be helpful

DigSig: ISSUE-83 - Instantiated widget should not be able to read digital signature

AB: we've discussed this on e-mail and in meetings. Want to spend a little bit of time on it today with the hope of getting consensus on how to close it. If we start to rat-hole, I will cut off discussion. As I've said on the mail list (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0162.html), I don't think this issue should be addressed in a normative/prescriptive way. What do others think? (See http://www.w3.org/2008/webapps/track/issues/83)

MC: I think the ball is in Mark's court; some members are not convinced this is an issue
... I think we need to get a sense from MP about the level of severity

MP: we think we identified a risk and the fix is relatively easy
... we don't think the use cases against it are compelling
... I'm not sure we have consensus on what the issue is

AB: I think the issue is clear

FH: I could use a reminder

MP: we allow mult sigs in a package
... the sigs do not sign each other
... can have a package with some files that are not signed
... could lead to abuse

FH: so there is a covert channel
... I agree it is a risk
... but I'm concerned about an arbitrary rule that precludes all sig files from being accessed
... think some policy re access is a better way to go
... rather than a single rule that says no, this is not ever allowed

MP: I don't understand the use case
... but I do agree displaying some info to the user could be useful
... I don't think the widget itself should be allowed to access the widget package contents
... If we go in the policy direction, need text on Object element restrictions too

[ FH makes a proposal that I did not minute ...]

<fjh> proposal is that ds:Object element be required to be signed, hence part of signature verified and validated

TR: I'm not sure I see a strong use case for accessing the signature
... unless we create some type of API
... think there may be a larger covert opportunity e.g. HTML iframes
... behavior user sees can be controled by things that are not signed

MP: I agree with TR's points

<fjh> should this be a security consideration in the specification with note that implementation should take care regarding access control to information?

MP: think we just need a couple of lines in the spec to close the hole

<fjh> proposal - add security consideration about covert channels and providing access to information, access control decision by implementation

AB: which spec?

MP: P+C spec

Arve: re covert channel issue
... I think restricting access to sig files is going overboard
... would rather propose that we treat the signature as invalid if it has non-conformant data

FH: I'm concerned we are trying to be too prescriptive in the spec rather leaving this as an impl detail re the access policy
... I agree we need a Security Considerations section in P+C and we could add this issue there
... not sure it's a good design to restrict implementations

<fjh> proposing that implementations address issue via access control

AB: clearly we don't have consensus here
... Marcos, will you please re-submit your complete proposal?

MC: yes

AB: FH, will you please submit your proposal?

FH: yes

P&C spec: Simple approach for <access>

AB: On March 26 Robin made a proposal for the <access> element. I don't believe there has been any follow-up yet this is a relatively major issue with respect to P&C going to LC#2. Robin, please give us a short intro and status on your proposal (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009JanMar/0943.html).
... anyone know the whereabout of Robin?
... he wasn't here on April 2 either

<scribe> ACTION: barstow Ask Robin to flesh-out his <access> element proposal [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action01]

<trackbot> Created ACTION-332 - Ask Robin to flesh-out his <access> element proposal [on Arthur Barstow - due 2009-04-23].

AB: any comments on Robin's proposal?

MC: it is aligned with the way I think we should go

AB: anyone else?

TR: I want to briefly speak to Robin's proposal
... have we thought about how this would be used at install time?
... want to understand the use of the policy
... Any comments on that?

MP: we think this info will be used at diff points
... for example at distribution time
... decisions could be made by user e.g. at install time
... could also use this info at runtime

TR: also need some text about the use beyond just access control
... e.g. DNS control too

AB: TR, would you please respond to Robin's proposal with your comments
... they are good things we need to consider

TR: yes; I'll do that

P&C spec: I18N proposal from Marcos

AB: Marcos has been working on a I18N model that will presumably address all of the related open issues for the P&C spec. This is another one of the major issues that must be closed before we publish LC#2. Marcos, please give us a short intro and then I'll open up for others' comments. Proposal is in CVS (http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/2006/waf/widgets/i18n.html).

MC: my doc presents several options for localizing a widget
... we have about 16 different options
... some result in invalid widgets
... also addresses the xml:base issue we've discussed

AB: is the proposal complete?

MC: I consider it still a rough proposal but it is mostly done

AB: I believe only Jere has responded so far

MC: yes; I also submitted it to the I18N Core WG
... we may want to publish it as a WG Note

JK: have you received any feedback to the I18N Core WG

MC: no, I have sent it to the whole WG yet, just Addisson

JK: my comments are base on an older version
... I gave some feedback on the options

<Marcos> http://dev.w3.org/2006/waf/widgets/i18n.html

JK: perhaps we should try to reduce the number of options so it isn't overwhelming to the reader

MC: in section 9 there is a matrix that summarizes the options

AB: so a reader could stop at the table in section 9?

MC: yes, that's basically true

JK: it's great you did this work Marcos; it is essential we get it right
... I urge everyone to read the proposal and make sure we get it right the first time
... I don't think we want some type of incremental approach

AB: when will the doc be ready for a broad review?

MC: by the end of today

<scribe> ACTION: Marcos send a Request for Comments re I18N proposal to I18N Core WG and WebApps WG on April 16 with a 1-week review period [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action02]

<trackbot> Created ACTION-333 - Send a Request for Comments re I18N proposal to I18N Core WG and WebApps WG on April 16 with a 1-week review period [on Marcos Caceres - due 2009-04-23].

JK: I think we can reduce the options today
... please see my comments

<timeless> i can't make that deadline

JK: if something can be removed from the list, we should do so before we ask for broad review

JS: I will be on vacation starting today and cannot get comments in by April 23

AB: the action for everyone is to read this document and submit comments by April 23
... thanks Marcos for this good work!
... I note that I support a WG Note after we have WG consensus on the content

A&E spec: preferences attribute and the Storage interface;

AB: Marcos started a thread on April 6 (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0040.html) that included a proposed change to the preferences attribute. Several commentors disagreed with the proposal. If I understand the status correctly, Marcos' intent was to notify the group we may want to consider only prescribing HTML5's Storage support for HTML5 UAs only but he is OK with leaving the text as is (in the 26 March ED, http://dev.w3.org/2006

MC: yes, the above summary is correct

AB: RESOLUTION: the preferences attribute as specified in the 26 March 2009 ED is OK
... any objections

[ None ]

RESOLUTION: the preferences attribute as specified in the 26 March 2009 ED is OK

Plan to get inputs and closure on the Red Block issues

AB: Arve agreed to create a proposal (see Action #235 http://www.w3.org/2008/webapps/track/actions/325) to address the Red Block issues. I don't believe that proposal has materialized. Arve, what is the status?
... some resolutions from April 2 are not in the ED

<Marcos> http://dev.w3.org/2006/waf/widgets-api/Overview.src.html

Arve: let's look at the version MC just put into IRC

AB: yes, that's fine with me

Arve: I'll hightlight the changes
... Section on Resolving DOM nodes removed

AB: yes, we agree to do that before

Arve: Window interface

MC: we need to say how the Widget interface will be implemented on the Window interface

Arve: without actually mentioning the Window object

MC: we have also removed refs to XHR spec

Arve: we also removed the Icon interface
... the previous text didn't make sense on some platforms
... for example in a desktop scenario there could be several icons
... also because of this, removed the icon attribute

AB: so, this version addresses all of the Red Block issues that were in the March 26 ED?

Arve: yes

AB: ok, so we can close action 325
... Arve, will you please do two things:
... 1. build the doc and check it in
... 2. annouce the doc on public-webapps

<arve> 1 is already done

Arve: so what's next?

AB: good question; what do people think?

[ No comments ]

Arve: the next step is to fill in Ack section
... then publish a new WD to see if there are any major issues
... then push toward LC ASAP

AB: that sounds like a good plan to me

Arve: I do not want any scope creep
... may want to wait for feedback for removing hide and open methods
... but they can be defined via extension mechanism

AB: yes agree on scope creep

<timeless> fwiw

<timeless> i'm opposed to using 'onclick' in new apis

AB: we can publish a new WD ASAP or publish the next version as a LC

<timeless> (showNotification())

MC: no, not ready for LC

JK: may need an API or two related to localization
... for example Dashboard has some Localization APIs for getting localized strings

MC: we thought about that model but rejected it
... don't think it is a good model to follow
... can load scripts dynamically and then easily emulate Dashboard methods

Arve: don't want to follow Dashboard model; it raises more concerns then it solves

AB: I prefer to publish a new WD ASAP and then open the discussion for comments including this localization API
... RESOLUTION: we publish a new WD of A+E ASAP
... any objections to this proposal?

RESOLUTION: we publish a new WD of A+E ASAP

Window Modes spec: status and plans

AB: I believe the plan of record is for Robin to be the Editor of this spec. The only related document in CVS is "Widgets 1.0: Media Query Extensions" (http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/2006/waf/widgets-wm/). I have three initial questions: 1) is this MQ Extension spec the one that will normatively define the Window Modes; 2) what is the status of the window mode specification; 3) what, if any, dependencies do P&C and A&E have on the formal definition of window modes?
... did Robin agree to be editor of Window Modes spec?

MC: I don't know

<scribe> ACTION: barstow deterimine if Robin agreed to be editor of the Window Modes spec [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action03]

<trackbot> Created ACTION-334 - Deterimine if Robin agreed to be editor of the Window Modes spec [on Arthur Barstow - due 2009-04-23].

MC: yes

AB: is the normative defn of Window Modes a separate doc than this MQ Extensions doc?
... what about question #3 above re depedencies P+C and A+E have on Window Mode definition?

Arve: width and height in A+E may have a dependency

MC: I don't see any dependencies P+C will have on Window Modes spec

AB: good answer!
... anything else on Window Modes

Arve: what if Robin cannot agree to be Editor of Window Modes?

AB: good question

Arve: without it we are likely to have some interop problems

AB: I will work with Mike to try to find a resource if Robin can't help

AOB

AB: I don't have anything

JS: I saw a widget UA
... demo to a large audience
... if the widget is HTML then it can be styled by CSS
... there are two classes: author wants widget to have its own look and feel; others will want the widget to just fit in with rest of the platform
... need some way to say "I want this widget to be skinned to fit into the platform"
... but also some way to say "I want to do my own skinning"
... can also expect an author to be able to say "I don't want scrollbars"

MC: I share a lot of those concerns
... it is hard to know if a widget platform will "take over" a widget Look and Feel
... we do have the app chrome that is part of window mode

JS: it's not about chrome really, its other parts of the UI
... stuff like padding between buttons
... it isn't specified by HTML5

Arve: I'm not sure we want to go too far in this direction

AB: meeting adjourned

RSSAgent, make minutes

Summary of Action Items

[NEW] ACTION: barstow Ask Robin to flesh-out his <access> element proposal [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action01]
[NEW] ACTION: barstow deterimine if Robin agreed to be editor of the Window Modes spec [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action03]
[NEW] ACTION: Marcos send a Request for Comments re I18N proposal to I18N Core WG and WebApps WG on April 16 with a 1-week review period [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html#action02]
 
[End of minutes]

Minutes formatted by David Booth's scribe.perl version 1.135 (CVS log)
$Date: 2009/04/16 14:41:27 $

Scribe.perl diagnostic output

[Delete this section before finalizing the minutes.]
This is scribe.perl Revision: 1.135  of Date: 2009/03/02 03:52:20  
Check for newer version at http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/2002/scribe/

Guessing input format: RRSAgent_Text_Format (score 1.00)

Succeeded: s/decision/consideration in the specification/
Succeeded: s/how we/have we/
Succeeded: s/Topic: P&C spec: I18N proposal from Marcos//
Succeeded: s/remove refs/removed refs/
Succeeded: s/Arve: we/MC: we/
Found ScribeNick: ArtB
Found Scribe: Art
Present: Art Josh Marcos Arve Frederick Jere Mike Thomas Mark
Agenda: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009AprJun/0181.html
Found Date: 16 Apr 2009
Guessing minutes URL: http://www.w3.org/2009/04/16-wam-minutes.html
People with action items: ask barstow marcos robin

[End of scribe.perl diagnostic output]