Implementation
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The goal of this page is to collect, curate, and distill information about what does implementation mean in a W3C context in general, and as it applies to the W3C Process, and the Success Criteria of (most) Working Group Charters.
This is part of the 2024 AB Priority Project: Interoperability and the Role of Independent Implementations ("3Is project").
Why this project
The Process has an entire section on 6.3.2. Implementation Experience and further has numerous references to "implementation".
Differences in understanding of what "implementation" means, or what an "implementation" is, have been a source of conflict, including Formal Objections.
This project seeks to capture our shared understanding of what "implementation" means to W3C, and what we aspire it to mean, to be more effective.
Related Issues
- AB-memberonly 17: Determining implementation experience with independent browser engines (Member-only link)
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Articles
Articles and blog posts on the topic of implementations in standards:
- 2020-01-20 Jeremy Keith: Unity
I think of situations where complete unity isn’t necessarily a good thing. Take political systems, for example. If you have hundreds of different political parties, that’s not ideal. But if you only have one political party, that’s very bad indeed!
There’s a sweet spot somewhere in between where there’s a base of level of agreement and cooperation, but there’s also plenty of room for disagreement and opposition. Right now, the browser landscape is just about still in that sweet spot. It’s like a two-party system where one party has a crushing majority. Checks and balances exist, but they’re in peril.
- 2020-01-26 torgo.com: Diary of an Engine Diversity Absolutist
- 2020-05-26 bkardell.com: Web Engine Diversity and Ecosystem Health
- 2020-05-26 kryogenix.org: Browsers are not rendering engines
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