Quality Assurance Library

Please see the QA Toolbox for a similar list of tools hosted, maintained, or related to QA at W3C.

This is the (almost) authoritative list for documents, texts, and documentation published in the QA webspace at W3C.

Among the documents below, those for which translations are welcome are explicitely marked as such with "[translation welcome]"; see also the W3C Policy regarding translations.

Documents on Web Quality

Tutorials

• Tutorials at W3C [TUTORIALS] : A list of tutorials about W3C technologies provided on the W3C website.

Web Site Quality

The following documents are for Web designers, Webmasters, or their managers, and address the quality of Web Sites and how to improve it.

• My Web site is standard! And yours? [WEB-QUALITY] : Easy, painless techniques and ideas to improve your Web site quality and make your Web site valid. [translation welcome]
• Buy standards compliant web sites [REQ-WEBAGENCY] : A set of requirements to think of when asking for the creation of a website. [translation welcome]
• Web Standards Switch [WEB-KIT] : Improving the quality of a web site made easy and step-by-step. Just follow the guide! Recommended for corporate readers [translation welcome]
• Making your website valid: a step by step guide [STEP-BY-STEP] : Another step-by-step guide to improving the quality of a Web Site, with more focus on the concepts behind and the use of the Log Validator tools. [translation welcome]
• Think globally, Act locally [LOCAL-ACTION] : A face-to-face strategy for web-quality education and outreach [translation welcome]
• Quality Tips for Webmasters [VAL-TIPS]: Tips for webmasters on quality issues related to W3C technologies such as HTML, CSS, HTTP, used in coordination with the MarkUp Validator [translation of individual tips welcome]

Web techniques

Documents a little more focused on precise problems and focused solutions than the general Web quality documents, these are interesting resources for Web designers, developers and webmasters.

• Ampersands, PHP Sessions and Valid HTML [PHP-SESSION] : Why using PHP sessions causes invalid HTML and XHTML to be generated by default, and how to fix it. [translation welcome]

External publications

Some of the articles written by the QA Team are published in other on-line publications to reach a wider audience.

• WASP asks W3C [WAW] : This collaborative work between W3C QA and the Web Standards Project answers regularly practical questions that Web developers or designers may have on Web standards. These articles are then discussed on the public-evangelist forum at W3C.
• More About Custom DTDs: The QA Team answers in A List Apart to another A List Apart article on Custom DTD and clarifies when it makes sense to use Custom DTDs and when it doesn't

Documents for Developers and implementors

More technical than the documents above, the following documents are addressing common problems in implementation of Web Technologies that developers (and, to a lesser extent, Web Designers and Web masters) should know about.

• Common HTTP Implementation Problems a.k.a CHIPs. [CHIPS] : This note is a set of good practices to improve implementations of HTTP and related standards as well as their use. [translation welcome]
• Common User-Agent Problems a.k.a CUAP. [CUAP] : This Note explains some common mistakes in user agents due to incorrect or incomplete implementation of specifications, and suggests remedies. [translation welcome]

Talks and Presentations

• Developing Joint Test Suites [PRES-JOINT-TS] (2 March 2005), Patrick Curran As part of a session in the Technical Plenary day, the QA Working Group presented its view on developing test suites for multiple specifications
• QA Framework presentation to the Voice Browser Working Group [PRES-VB-WG] (15 February 2005), Dominique Hazaël-Massieux Brief introduction of the QA Framework and its application to the Voice Browser Working Group
• QA in the field for the Compound Document Formats Working Group [PRES-CDF-WG] (8 November 2004), Dominique Hazaël-Massieux Presentation of the expected interactions between the Compound Ddocument Formats Working Group and the QA Team as part of the "QA in the field" effort
• W3C Web standards [PRES-WWW2004] (19 May 2004), Karl Dubost Presentation of how Web standards are used in W3C Web site itself made during the W3C track in WWW2004
• Making Test Suites Work for Working Groups [PRES-TP-2004] (March 2004, Dominique Hazaël-Massieux with the following panelists: Ian Hickson, Tantek Çelik, Henry Thomson, Jeremy Carroll, Mary Brady, Patrick Curran), on sharing experiences in test development efforts (see also the minutes of the session)
• QA Outreach Kit [PRES-TP-200303] (March 2003, Patrick Curran and the QAWG) : Presentation of the WG and QA Framework
• QA and Usability [PRES-200211-USABILITYWS] (3-5 November 2002, Karl Dubost) : Position Paper for the Workshop on Usability and the Web
• QAWG Project Review [PRES-200207-QAWG] (18 July 2002, Lofton Henderson) : Presentation of the QAWG, QA Framework
• Towards web maturity [TALK-200204-JP] (16 April 2002, Olivier Thereaux) : General presentation of W3C's QA plan
• A QA Framework for W3C [TALK-200202-TP] (27 February 2002, Lofton Henderson) : Presentation of the QA Activity, QA Framework

QA reference documents

General reference documents

• The Matrix of W3C specifications [QA-MATRIX] : Table of W3C specification with a QA approach (test suites, validators, etc).
  Also available in RDF.
• The QA Glossary [QA-GLOSSARY]
• The QA test taxonomy [QA-TAXONOMY] : 5 different kinds of conformance tests of W3C specs, organized in 2 families
• Conformance Testing and Certification Model for W3C Specifications [QA-CERTIF] : Presents a model for conformance testing and certification programs by identifying key roles, activities and products involved in any conformance testing and certification program.
• Study of a W3C Certification Activity: A study of the whereabouts, pros and cons of starting a possible W3C Certification activity. It is intended as providing a basis for discussion
• Translations of QA Documents [QA-TRANSLAT]

Documents about the QA activity

• QA activity Statement [QA-ACTIVITY] : Structure, situation and future plans of the activity.
• QA Working Group charter [QAWG-CHARTER]
• QA Interest Group charter [QAIG-CHARTER]
• QA in other standards bodies

the QA Framework

• QA Framework Primer & User Scenarios [QAF-PRIMER] : A general orientation to the whole of the QA Framework, in the form of user and usage scenarios, primer material, and target audience identification by Working Group role.
• Operational
  • QA Handbook [QAH] : Guidelines and good practices for planning, committing and staffing, logistical and process setup, and appropriate IPR, of WG quality processes, esp. test related ones
  • QA Process Document template for The QA Handbook [QAH-PROCESS]: A template for a QA Process document implementing the guidelines and good practices of the QA Handbook
  • Charter template for The QA Handbook [QAH-PROCESS]: A template for a Working Group charter implementing the guidelines and good practices of the QA Handbook
• Specifications
  • Specification Guidelines [QAF-SPEC] : Requirements and Good Practices for writing clearer, more implementable, more testable specifications
  • Checklist for Specification Guidelines [QAF-SPEC-CHECKLIST] : companion to the Specification Guidelines.
  • Variability in Specifications [VIS]: A conceptual framework for dealing with conformance variability and complexity in specifications
• Test material
  • Test Development FAQ [TEST-FAQ] : Frequently Asked Questions on development of Test Suites inside W3C

See Also...

Elsewhere on W3C site

• W3C Manual of Style
• W3C Editors Home Page
• The Essentials of a Specification
• Background on Conformance (Member-only)

QA periodical publications

• Latest news [QA-NEWS] : All the latest news about and around Quality Assurance at W3C.
• A Month on the QA mailing-lists [MONTHINQA] (ex-"WEEKINQA") : Monthly summary of the discussions on www-qa, mailing-list of W3C QA Interest Group and www-qa-wg, mailing-list of W3C's QA Working Group.
  Links to all the issues can be found in the QA Calendar.