CSS Working Group 2008 Charter Table of Specifications How-To

This page lists information on maintaining the 2008 Charter Table of Specifications.

Each module advocate needs to fill out the following information:

===== Specification Name =====

  ; Latest Working Draft : pasteURLhere
  ; Advocate : Your Name Here
  ; Description : Describe here what it is.
  ; Status : Explain current status, expected next status, how big of a project it is.
  ; Implementations : Explain current status and expectations.
  ; Test Suite : Explain current and expected status, how big of a project it will be.
  ; Blocked by : Explain anything that is blocking progress.
  ; Rationale : Explain why we want this, why it is important.

The CSSWG's current work page is a good starting point. fantasai's article on specification stages might be helpful for describing status. It defines the following stages:

Exploring

In this stage the spec is often incomplete, possibly changing greatly between drafts, and possibly including many features that will be dropped as the module matures.

Rewriting

Some modules enter this stage, where large parts of the spec are rewritten.

Refining

At this point the spec is mostly complete and the scope of its functionality is well-defined, but the spec still needs several cycles of publishing, review, and revision to uncover issues and resolve them.

Stabilizing

At this point the spec is almost stable enough for CR, but still needs some well-defined changes from e.g. last-call comments, or general minor polishing.

Call for Implementations

At this point the WG believes the specification to be complete and precise enough to be implemented, and by transitioning it into the CR status has issued a call for implementations and test cases.

Recommended / Stable

Although the test suite and implementation reports may not be done yet and there may still be a few minor issues left, at this point the WG has enough implementation experience that it considers the spec ready for wide use.

If your spec has a test suite, you can use these release phase definitions to describe its status, reproduced below:

Final

Test suite is complete with no known or suspected bugs. At least two implementations pass, and the specification has reached Recommendation status.

Release Candidate

Test suite is complete with no known or suspected bugs. At least one implementation passes almost all tests.

Beta

Test suite has complete coverage of the spec. It may have some bugs but is expected to be mostly reliable. At least one implementation passes a majority of the tests.

Alpha

Test suite has complete if not thorough coverage of the spec, but is expected to require some revision.

Pre-Alpha

Test suite is incomplete and/or known to contain bugs at time of publication.