Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group Charter

The mission of the Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group, part of the Mobile Web Initiative Activity, is to help create a strong foundation for the mobile Web through the development of a set of tests suited for browsers on mobile devices.

Software providers need tests to ensure that their products correctly implement the W3C technologies required for mobile Web access. The MWI Test Suites Working Group allows sharing the development cost of test suites within the community.

Join the Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group.

End date	31 December 2009
Confidentiality	Proceedings are Public
Initial Chairs	Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, Wilhelm Joys Andersen
Initial Team Contacts (FTE %: 50)	Dominique Hazaël-Massieux
Usual Meeting Schedule	Teleconferences: Weekly Face-to-face: Once Annually

Scope

The main objective of the MWI Test Suites Working Group is to enable the development of a rich mobile Web experience by providing tests suited to user agents on mobile devices.

These tests can then be used by developers of user agents to increase the quality of their software, and by other actors in the market to advocate for better standards support, and to use the knowledge gathered on user agents to develop content that will work well across a large set of devices.

The scope of the MWI Test Suites Working Group includes:

the collection and review of existing test materials in the mobile Web space
the collection, development and packaging of test cases for mobile Web technologies (including XHTML Basic/MP, CSS Mobile Profile, WICD, SVG Tiny, Widgets)
the coordination with existing testing efforts for these technologies inside and outside W3C, in particular with OMA
guidance to other working groups on testing matters

Success Criteria

Production of one or several test products.
Industry adoption of the group deliverables.

Deliverables

Mobile Web technologies tests. It will be the task of the Working Group to establish the exact set of tests to be worked on. Potential tests products include, but are not limited to:
- CSS Mobile Profile test suite
- Maintaining and publicizing the Web Compatibility Test for Mobile Browsers, including through a Working Group Note describing the current state of the mobile web user agents based on test results
- W3C Widgets test
- ...
Maintenance of the Mobile Web Test Harness
Guidelines on how to write device-independent test cases
Maintenance of an up-to-date MWI Test Suites Working Group Web site

Timeline View Summary

February 2009: Working Group Note on State of Mobile Web User Agents based on Web Compatibility Test
March 2009: first version of the W3C Widgets test suite
April 2009: first Working Draft of the Device independent testing guidelines
May 2009: updated test harness release
June 2009: release of a W3C/OMA test suite for CSS MP 2.0
September 2009: updated State of Mobile Web User Agents
November 2009: final Working Group Note of Device Idenpendent Testing Guidelines
December 2009: end of charter

Dependencies

W3C Groups

Mobile Web Initiative

The MWI Test Suites Working Group exists within the framework of the Mobile Web Initiative, currently comprising the Mobile Web Best Practices WG and the Mobile Web For Social Development Interest Group. The Chairs of the MWI Test Suites Working Group will sit on the MWI Steering Council.

Web Applications Working Group

The Mobile Web Test Suites Working Group will work with the Web Applications Working Group on developing tests for the specifications that are particularly relevant in mobile space, e.g. Widgets

CSS Working Group

The Test Suites Working Group will assist the CSS Working Group on the test suites needed for the progress of CSS Mobile Profile.

Other Interaction and Ubiquitous Web Domain groups

The Test Suites Working Group will assist other working groups that develop mobile-relevant technologies, e.g.:

the Ubiquitous Web Applications Working Group
the Geolocation Working Group
the HTML Working Group
the SVG Working Group

Hypertext Coordination Group (HCG)

The Hypertext Coordination Group ensures that all W3C Working Groups creating document specifications review each other's work. The MWI Test Suites Working Group expects to be represented on the Hypertext Coordination Group.

External Groups

Open Mobile Alliance IOP-Browsing group

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) InterOperability Process (IOP) group has a sub-Working Group dedicated to browsing technologies, working on a set of interoperability test suites for mobile Web technologie.

While the scope of the work done by the MWI Test Suites group and this OMA group differ (conformance vs interoperability test suites), the MWI Test Suites Working Group intends to develop a strong working relationship with OMA IOP Browsing by making use of the W3C-OMA liaison agreement which defines basic inter-working principles between the two bodies, as well as through the collaboration agreement on test suites set up between the W3C and OMA on CSS MP and XHTML MP test suites.

Participation

Effective participation to Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group is expected to consume one work day per week for each participant.

Participants are reminded of the Good Standing requirements of the W3C Process.

Communication

This group primarily conducts its work on the public mailing list public-mwts@w3.org (archive); the member only mailing list member-mwts@w3.org is used for administrative and logistics questions .

Information about the group (deliverables, participants, face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, etc.) is available from the Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group home page.

Decision Policy

As explained in the Process Document (section 3.3), this group will seek to make decisions when there is consensus. When the Chair puts a question and observes dissent, after due consideration of different opinions, the Chair should record a decision (possibly after a formal vote) and any objections, and move on.

Patent Disclosures

Note: All of the deliverables of this Working Group are informative-only. Per section 8.3 of the W3C Patent Policy, since no provisions in these deliverables constitute "architectural [or] interoperability requirements," participants in this Working Group have no licensing obligations associated with any of these chartered deliverables.

The Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group provides an opportunity to share perspectives on the topic addressed by the charter. This Working Group is not chartered to produce Recommendations with associated licensing obligations as described by the W3C Patent Policy. W3C reminds Working Group participants of their obligation to comply with patent disclosure obligations as set out in Section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy. While this Working Group does not produce Recommendation-track documents, when Working Group participants review Recommendation-track specifications from other Working Groups, the patent disclosure obligations do apply.

For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.

About this Charter

This charter for the Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites Working Group has been created according to section 6.2 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.

The running of this working group is supported by the European Union's 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7) through the MobiWeb 2.0 Project.

Please also see the previous charter for this group.

Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, Mobile Web Initiative Activity Lead

$Date: 2009/01/07 13:59:37 $