

[Bug 9673] New: Remove any reference to a specific Time Stamp format for video captioning from the specification at this time

From: <bugzilla@jessica.w3.org>
Date: Thu, 06 May 2010 21:04:24 +0000
To: public-html-a11y@w3.org
Message-ID: <bug-9673-3290@http.www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/>

           Summary: Remove any reference to a specific Time Stamp format
                    for video captioning from the specification at this
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: PC
               URL: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/video.html#websrt
        OS/Version: Windows NT
            Status: NEW
          Keywords: a11y, a11ytf, media, outOfScope
          Severity: major
          Priority: P1
         Component: HTML5 spec (editor: Ian Hickson)
        AssignedTo: ian@hixie.ch
        ReportedBy: jfoliot@stanford.edu
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html@w3.org,

The specification of a newly minted Time-Stamp format (WebSRT) within the HTML5
Specification is inappropriate and premature at this time. Even though the
HTML5 Accessibility Task Force (HTML-A11Y TF) are still gathering requirements,
it's already clear the direction in the editor's draft is inadequate.
Specifically, this text should NOT be present in the next heartbeat spec

  * This is a newly proposed file format that is not yet fully specified, is
untested, has zero implementation history, zero authoring tools and has not
been proposed by any known or documented W3C Process.

  * It has not been proven that the newly minted WebSRT format addresses all
known accessibility issues - the needs analysis and requirements document is
unknown and/or undocumented. Affected communities (both end users, as well as
content creators) have not been adequately canvassed to ensure that their needs
are being met.

  * It is likely that creating and defining a new Time Stamp format is out of
scope for the HTML WG: in this way it is very similar to the introduction of
Microdata (which has spun out to the HTML Microdata Draft) and RDFa (which has
spun off to the HTML + RDFa Draft)

  * The HTML-A11Y TF were not consulted on this topic; they are currently
tasked with, and working on, specific recommendations related to one or more
Time Stamp formats. The Task Force was recently surveyed on which time-stamp
formats should be considered
(http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/44061/media-text-format/results), at which time
WebSRT neither existed nor was proposed or suggested.

  * Premature spec language exacerbates HTML-A11Y TF's ability to work
expeditiously toward an HTML5 last call. It introduces tangents and levels of
confusion that work against a timely completion of a last call document.

  * The continuing active work on this topic in the Media Subteam of the
HTML-A11Y TF is well known to the HTML-WG. To move forward on spec language
without TF input contravenes the consensus policy of the W3C.

Also relates to:
* Issue-9 (http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/issues/9)

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Received on Thursday, 6 May 2010 21:04:27 GMT
