1041 2005-01-21 09:37:05 +0000 Conformance is not a yes/no proposition (wrt filling an ICS) 2005-04-28 11:53:52 +0000 1 1 1 Unclassified QA QASpec-GL LC-2004-11-22 All All RESOLVED REMIND http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa/2005Jan/0006.html P2 normal --- 1157 1 dom karl karl oldest_to_newest 2861 0 dom 2005-01-21 09:37:05 +0000 "1.2 Good Practice B" suggests that an ICS form be provided with yes/no questions: "1. Create a list, table or form listing all features (capabilities) and indicating if it is mandatory or not. 2. Provide space for the implementer to check: Yes, No, Not Applicable". However, this is unrealistic. For example, take CSS user agents. How is an implementor to determine if he has implemented margin collapsing correctly? All that can really be said is that the user agent passes a certain set of tests. For any even mildly complicated specification it will always be possible to show that a user agent is in some way non-compliant, it's just a matter of finding a suitable test. Therefore I would suggest changing this section to instead suggest leaving space for the implementor to list the URIs to (publically available) tests that the implementor has used to verify interoperability and compliance, listing which tests the implementor determined passed in the user agent and which failed (if any). Specification authors may wish to provide a list of URIs to the tests that form part of the specification's formal test suite (as used to check for interoperability as per the CR exit criteria), although naturally such a test suite can never be complete enough to really be used to claim conformance so implementors would be expected to also provide links to other tests that they used. (The existing suggestions could be kept for the rare specs in which a test suite is inappropriate, such as the two examples the spec currently gives: the QA spec guidelines and the WCAG. However, this applies to very few specifications and so should not IMHO be the primary suggestion in the document.) 4100 1 karl 2005-03-03 17:33:17 +0000 http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa-wg/2005Feb/0021.html (dh) What I understand from Ian's email is that you cannot ever say that you are fully conformant to a spec; it's not a yes/no proposition. (pc) Conformance is not binary. While it's not possible to claim with 100% certainty that an implementation is conformant to every aspect of a specification, but rather as to whether the conformance _REQUIREMENT_ has been met (for example, passing these tests etc). It's up to the spec writers to make it "binary" or easy to answer. We use the term conformanace in a special sense. If we require conformance in this sense, we need to rewrite specifications to meet this need. (lr) To me, a conformance statement is a vendor declaration that they implement this or that feature. (kd) [minuter: sound breaking up]... maybe we can add a clause to Spec GL ... (dm) the ICS is also an input to the processor running the test (lr) I'd say selecting the tests that are run. I'll take a stab at review and modify wording as necessary, by feb 11. 4113 2 karl 2005-03-03 19:22:18 +0000 http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa-wg/2005Feb/0028.html http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=1041 Ongoing: LH will modify the wording. Due date is February 21. 4114 3 karl 2005-03-03 19:24:05 +0000 http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa-wg/2005Feb/0014.html Action Item to modify 1.2 B GP ICS I tweaked the what does it mean, removing 'conformance' from the first sentence, changing some works and adding a new last sentence. What does it mean? An Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) provides information about an implementation to a specification, by presenting in a uniform manner the capabilities and optional features that have been implemented as well as the limitations of the implementation.. An ICS typically takes the form of a questionnaire or checklist for implementor to complete. An ICS provides the implementor a way to indicate what has been implemented. 3885 4 dom 2005-03-08 14:26:42 +0000 Lynne has an action item to provide clarification wrt real meaning of ICS: AI-20050303-1 LR to provide a 1 sentence disclaimer in the"What does it mean" section that the ICS should positively emphasize that it's not about conformance. 3836 5 dom 2005-04-08 09:29:01 +0000 Lynne's proposal integrated as amended by later proposal. 3688 6 dom 2005-04-28 11:53:52 +0000 setting version to LC in case of future use