"MonthinQA" is a monthly summary of the main topics discussed on www-qa@w3.org, the public mailing-list of W3C QA Interest Group and www-qa-wg@w3.org, the public mailing-list of W3C's QA Working Group.
The regular editor for "MonthinQA" is Lynne Rosenthal, NIST, co-chair of the QA Interest Group.
See also the initial calendar and initial requirements for this resource.
As the technology becomes more and more modular (e.g., CSS3-UI), it is influencing the way WGs organize their Spec developing. We are moving away from a monolithic specification to a multiple document specification. Thus, we have a specification family consisting of a master document which defines conformance, usage scenarios, etc and the modules attached to it. Writing specifications in this manner raises several questions: (1) When is a technology be considered complete? (2)Hhow much of the technology needs to specified to be meaningful? (3) Should a WD (which is a module of this set) be authorized to reach the status of Rec (and even Last Call without the other bricks)? (4) How complete must a module be (e.g., contain its own conformance section)? (5) What is the impact on the QA Framework documents, specifically on implementing the QA Specification Guideline? No conclusions have been made, although there has been an interesting dialogue.
Do you have a favorite web tip that you would like to share? The QA IG is a great place to find Web Tips, How to, Best Pactices and other helpful information. Due to the success of recent contributions and the increasing demand for such a resource, a Guide for contributing new material to the QA Interest Group has been developed. The objective of this guide is to make it easy for you to share your knowledge with others in the community.
Several new tips have been added to this resource including: Create legible Web pages; If you pick one color, pick them all; Care with Font Size; Cool URIs don't change; Use links in your document; Use international date format; and PNG vs GIF. These tips are easy to read, understand, and concise. The goal is to educate people that build the Web. If you have comments on a current tip - please discuss this on the www-qa@w3.org mailing list. If you have a new tip for share - please read the Process to submit Quality Tips.
The Charters for the QA Activity, QA WG, and QA IG are being developed. After two years of activity, and with an improved basis (the QA Framework, the Matrix, the outreach to the WGs, the QA library) to move forward, we're proposing to renew the QA activity for a second phase focused on development of quality tools supporting the WG test materials production and still more education. The renewed QA Activity will keep its dual focus: (1) to solidify and extend current W3C WGs quality practices, with a focus on test materials development, this will be done in the QA Working Group and (2) to educate on the importance of using Web standards, done in the QA Interest Group and sub-lists. We invite you to participate in the QA Activity's WG and IG, and for those of you currently participating, we look forward to your continued participation.
The next face-to-face is scheduled for 21-23 October 2003 in Boulder CO at NIST, Boulder. QA IG participants are wlecome to join, provided they contact the WG and IG chairs in advance. Due to Security at NIST, all visitors will need to pre-register. See the logistics and agenda for more information.
Don't forget to check out the latest QA News: including the newest items: "RDF makes it easier" and Newer version of "Think Globally, Act Locally" released.
All meeting minutes are available at: http://www.w3.org/QA/Agenda/
