W3C is holding a workshop in Dublin, Ireland on 5-6 June on
web authoring techniques that reduce the need for scripting
through the use of modeling techniques. We hope to tap into
the academic research work on user interface and
application
modeling, and the potential for describing applications
from
an end to end perspective, rather than just the pieces that
are downloaded to a particular browser.
On the desktop, developers need to contend with several
different versions of several different browsers, each with
different levels of support and different bugs. The
situation
is very much worse for mobile devices and this presents
real
challenges to developing and delivering web applications
with
limited budgets.
In principle, this can be addressed by describing
applications
at a level that is decoupled from the details of specific
devices, and the use of policies that separately describe
how
to adapt the presentation and behavior to match these
devices.
W3C has made some steps in this direction with work on
device
independent authoring languages, device descriptions and
the
means to select markup or style rules according to the
context.
However, there is plenty of potential for markup languages
that
describe applications at a level that includes both client
and
server, e.g. based upon event-driven state models.
As more and more devices are gaining some kind of
networking
capability, there is an opportunity to apply web
technologies
to describing multi-device applications, e.g. using a
digital
TV or mobile handset to access and control household
appliances,
home entertainment, security and surveillance systems. What
kinds of models are appropriate for such distributed web
applications?
When it comes to access to device capabilities and
services,
what kinds of security models are appropriate and how can
these be made sufficiently usable to work in practice?
Examples include access from within a web browser to the
device's built-in camera, or the means to remotely unlock
the front door of a building. The Semantic Web would seem
to
offer promising techniques for descriptions of devices and
services as a basis for discovery, and policies for access
control.
The Web is still in its early days and there remain
significant
challenges for improving the way in which we author Web
applications, however these also represent huge
opportunities.
W3C welcomes you to come to Dublin, the capital of Ireland
and the epicenter for Guiness lovers everywhere, to
participate
in the workshop on declarative models of distributed web
applications. If you are interested in participating,
please
send us a brief statement of interest to
team-ubiwebws-submit w3.org
Further details can be found at:
http://www.w3.org
/2007/02/dmdwa-ws/
Dave Raggett <dsrw3.org> http://www.w3.org/Pe
ople/Raggett
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