Nothing is perfect (and that is why we have QA) by Olivier

“The way a bug was found and fixed in the Feed Validator is not disturbing, I actually think it was an inspiring proof that all the aspects of its QA process worked:

1. There is a public feedback channel (several, indeed) for a problem to be reported to: Brian sent a message to the W3C QA mailing-list, asking whether someone could make sense of the problem he was facing
2. The tool is implementing public specifications: I was able to look at the RSS taxonomy module spec, and compare its prose with the implementation in the Feed validator
3. The validator is open source: 10 minutes of browsing around clear code was enough to find the issue, and create a patch, which was promptly reviewed and applied by Sam Ruby, one of the maintainers of the validator.
4. There is a test suite, to which I submitted a revised test case: now that the bug is fixed, we know that it will never appear again without being spotted automatically.

Time between original feedback and applied patch: about 24 hours.

There is nothing shocking about this bug, but the speed at which it was processed and fixed. Maybe that was lucky, I just happened to have a bit of time to look at the issue and the bug was easy to fix. Other, more complex bugs in tools that we (W3C’s QA Tools development effort) maintain are not so lucky, and indeed Brian is right in pointing out that we could use more help and resources to make our tools better. But I can not agree with his slightly provocative title that Validators Don’t Always Work. The Feed validator works, and so does its Quality Assurance process, as demonstrated in the prompt fixing of a small bug in its implementation of a faulty, not widely used specification.

Validators are extremely important tools for the adoption of technologies, and it is perfectly normal to be concerned about their quality. This is why finding bugs is good news, and the best use of one’s energy is not to worry about them, but to help find them, report them, patch them and build regression test cases for them.

Nothing and noone is perfect, that’s why we have QA.”

From Alice

This was a great example of how things have changed for the better and evolved over time at the W3C when handling issues and bugs but I would also like to stress that there was nothing wrong with the way otherÂbugs and issues were handled in the past.

From the W3C News

“The Web Application Formats Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of Widgets 1.0 Requirements. These design goals are the requirements for device-independent standards for scripting, digitally signing, securing, packaging and deploying client-side Web applications (widgets). Also known as gadgets or modules, widgets are small programs like clocks, stock tickers, news casters, games and weather forecasters that display and update remote data and run on the Web browser environment. Read about Rich Web Clients.”

They have a really great graphic on the W3C web site showing the inner workings of a widget, which is really cool.

From the W3C

“Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web, opened the 3GSM World Congress on Monday 12 February in Barcelona, Spain with a keynote address at the Mobile Innovation Forum. Berners-Lee spoke on the role of innovation and openness in the Web’s success, and how the W3C Mobile Web Initiative brings mobile telephony into convergence with the Web and aids in bridging the digital divide.”

There could not have been a better way to open up this years event Tim did an excellent job, delivering his speech to a packed house.

It’s fashion season! The ubiquitous “valid” icons, present at the bottom of about half a trillion Web pages in their signature “gold” color, now also come in W3C-ish blue.

In addition to the usual two raster image formats (PNG and GIF), the icons are now also available as vector graphics (SVG and EPS).

The full list can be browsed on the W3C QA website.

W3C organized a free webinar to teach how to mobilize your Web content. Dominique Hazal-Massieux presented how to benefit from the expertise collected through the documents and tools provided by the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group.

W3C organized a free public seminar on Mobile Web in Paris on 16 November 2006. This half-day event focused on current results produced by W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative. Speakers included representatives of MWI sponsors, such as Bango, France Telecom, Jataayu Software, MobileAware, mTLD, Opera Software, and Vodafone.

Was reading the W3 website and noticed they started something new called Planet Mobile Web which aggregates posts from various blogs that concern the Mobile Web and I hope to get my blog added to but thats not why I am posting this it is becasue they have alot of geat information being posted so thought everyone interested in learning about mobile web would love this website and feed

The Mobile Web Initiative’s goal is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices a reality, explains Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web. W3C and mobile industry leaders are working together to improve Web content production and access for mobile users and the greater Web.

I could not write it any better so I used a paragraph from the homepage just wanted to let all those interested in the Mobile Web to start here they have listings of working group discussions, events and news and more related to the Mobile Web. They also have a great blog

Tim Berners Lee writes in his blog

“When I invented the Web, I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end in the USA.

I blogged on net neutrality before, and so did a lot of other people. (see e.g. Danny Weitzner, SaveTheInternet.com, etc.) Since then, some telecommunications companies spent a lot of money on public relations and TV ads, and the US House seems to have wavered from the path of preserving net neutrality. There has been some misinformation spread about. So here are some clarifications. ( real video Mpegs to come)

Net neutrality is this:

If I pay to connect to the Net with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or greater quality of service, then we can communicate at that level.

That’s all. Its up to the ISPs to make sure they interoperate so that that happens.

Net Neutrality is NOT asking for the internet for free.

Net Neutrality is NOT saying that one shouldn’t pay more money for high quality of service. We always have, and we always will.

There have been suggestions that we don’t need legislation because we haven’t had it. These are nonsense, because in fact we have had net neutrality in the past — it is only recently that real explicit threats have occurred.

Control of information is hugely powerful. In the US, the threat is that companies control what I can access for commercial reasons. (In China, control is by the government for political reasons.) There is a very strong short-term incentive for a company to grab control of TV distribution over the Internet even though it is against the long-term interests of the industry.

Yes, regulation to keep the Internet open is regulation. And mostly, the Internet thrives on lack of regulation. But some basic values have to be preserved. For example, the market system depends on the rule that you can’t photocopy money. Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it.

Let’s see whether the United States is capable as acting according to its important values, or whether it is, as so many people are saying, run by the misguided short-term interested of large corporations.

I hope that Congress can protect net neutrality, so I can continue to innovate in the internet space. I want to see the explosion of innovations happening out there on the Web, so diverse and so exciting, continue unabated.”

Dear Tim 

I just wanted to say I could not agree with you more and have you my full support by doing what ever I can as an American to support your idea.