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IndieUI Overview

Page Contents

Introduction

Independent User Interface (IndieUI) is a way for user actions to be communicated to web applications. IndieUI will make it easier for web applications to work in a wide range of contexts — different devices, different assistive technologies (AT), different user needs.

Illustration of 4 scroll down user actions (described in the main content) going into a filter labeled IndieUI Events. Under filter is 'scrollrequest(x/y)', and an arrow pointing to it from a Web App.

For example, if a user wants to scroll down a page, they might use their finger on a touch screen, or click a scroll bar with a mouse, or use a scroll wheel, or press Page Down on a keyboard, or say "scroll down" with a voice command. All those different user actions can be translated into a simple IndieUI scroll event. (Specifically, scrollrequest(x/y), as shown in the illustration.)

IndieUI will allow web application developers to get these events from different devices without having to recognize how the user performed the action. With IndieUI, AT will have a simple set of events to control web applications, and web application developers will have a uniform way to design applications that work for multiple devices and contexts.

Use Cases and Requirements

An in-progress draft of the use cases that IndieUI intends to address is available in the Use Cases and Requirements wiki page.

The IndieUI Documents

IndieUI will include two technical specifications: IndieUI: Events and IndieUI: User Context. They are introduced below and explained in more detail in the Current Work section of the IndieUI Working Group page.

Events

IndieUI: Events will map user input events to intended function. For example, a user scrolling a page is a series of touch events closely related in time and space. This can be complicated for web applications to process, particularly because the expected gestures vary by platform. IndieUI will allow the device to send a simple "scroll" event to the application, thus simplifying the work needed by the web application developer.

The First Public Working Draft of IndieUI: Events was published 22 January 2013. It is introduced in a blog post. You can review the:

User Context

IndieUI: User Context will allow a web application to get information about user needs and preferences. This will facilitate a web application optimizing for specific user contexts. There are significant privacy and security issues that need to be resolved.

The First Public Working Draft of IndieUI: User Context will be published in 2013. You can read the in-progress Editors' Draft of IndieUI: User Context, which might include early ideas that are not yet well developed, vetted, or approved.

Who develops IndieUI

The IndieUI technical documents are developed by the Independent User Interface Task Force , which is a joint task force of the Web Events Working Group and Independent User Interface Working Group (IndieUI WG). The IndieUI WG is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

IndieUI is developed through the W3C Process introduced in How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process: Milestones and Opportunities to Contribute.

Your Input

We welcome your input, including commenting on drafts announced for review and more actively participating in the Working Group.