\u201cChampioning responsive web standards\u201d is the primary goal of the Responsive Issues Community Group, and it continues to be\u2014we put it right there in the name, after all. But our secondary goal\u2014paving a new way for designers and developers to participate in web standards\u2014has been tough to balance at the same time.<\/p>\n
By taking point on the issues that matter to the community and encouraging designers and developers to come to us with their ideas, I\u2019ve worried that we\u2019re putting ourselves in a position to someday play unwitting web standards gatekeepers. I\u2019ve worried that web standards will still be thought of as a problem solved elsewhere, by those with the right connections and influence to get them solved\u2014not the responsibility of each and every one of us.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve worried that the RICG could someday become the new old guard.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been unsure of the way forward, though\u2014in fact, I\u2019ve been dragging my feet a little. I have a spec<\/a> to work on, but I really haven\u2019t; I haven\u2019t even been sure about having my name on it. I don\u2019t want to own<\/em> it. I want everyone<\/em>\u00a0to own it. That\u2019s what I want web standards to be.<\/p>\n But the RICG\u2019s strength is that it\u2019s made up of hundreds of brilliant developers and designers, and they\u2019re smarter than I am. For all my worrying, I should have realized that there was already a plan for the works.<\/p>\n The brand new Web Incubator Community Group<\/a>\u2014chaired by the RICG\u2019s own Yoav Weiss<\/a> and Marcos Caceres<\/a> and Google\u2019s Chris Wilson<\/a>\u2014aims to \u201cmake it as easy as possible for developers to propose new platform features, in the spirit of the Extensible Web Manifesto<\/a>.\u201d Their goal is to take the lessons learned during the RICG\u2019s responsive images slog and adapt web standards to match. No more being shoehorned into ancient mailing lists and IRC channels\u2014unless that\u2019s what you want to use, of course.<\/p>\n They won\u2019t act as gatekeepers; they won\u2019t thumbs-up or thumbs-down your proposals. They will<\/em>\u00a0guide you through the web standards process, and they\u2019ll use all their experience to make it go as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n As for the RICG, we\u2019re not going anywhere. We\u2019ve got work to do; we\u2019ve got a platform and a purpose, and we\u2019re going to keep on picking the web standards fights that need to be fought. We\u2019ll keep on encouraging people to get involved in web standards, for certain, but now we can do so with direction<\/em>. You don\u2019t have to join our IRC channel or pipe up on our mailing list. We\u2019ll get you set up with our friends at the WICG, and they\u2019ll help you get started\u2014maybe that\u2019ll lead you back to us, and maybe it\u2019ll lead to your own community group and your own specification. If you do end up with us, rest assured that we\u2019ll be learning all the same lessons as the WICG: we\u2019ll find new ways to meet you where you\u2019re most comfortable, instead of trying to make you stick to our processes.<\/p>\n The RICG and the WICG share more than a few letters and a handful of members. We share the same goal: to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for anyone that wants to get involved in web standards<\/em>. They not only have the RICG\u2019s full support, but they have us completely on board. We\u2019ll be publishing our specifications through the WICG from here on, backed up with all the patent protection of the W3C. No more pirate radio web standards.<\/p>\n We made a lot of our progress by bucking the rules in the past, because the rules weren\u2019t what they should have been. But the RICG\u2014and now the WICG\u2014aim to make new rules for the web standards game, and it wouldn\u2019t be fair if we put ourselves outside of them at the same time. By aligning the RICG with the WICG, we\u2019re ensuring that we play on the same field as every other group of developers with a good idea.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the way it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cChampioning responsive web standards\u201d is the primary goal of the Responsive Issues Community Group, and it continues to be\u2014we put it right there in the name, after all. But our secondary goal\u2014paving a new way for designers and developers to … Continue reading Enter the WICG<\/h3>\n