This section contains terms used in this specification, with functional or
contextual definitions appropriate for this specification. See also [QA-GLOSSARY]. Some terms in this section
have been borrowed or adapted from other specifications.
- class of product
- the generic name for the group of products that would implement,
for the same purpose, the specification, (i.e., target of the
specification). The class of product is the object of the conformance
claim. A specification may identify several classes of
products.
- conformance clause
- a part or collection of parts of a specification that defines the
requirements, criteria, or conditions to be satisfied by an
implementation or application in order to claim conformance.
- conformance level
- a variety of conformance designation. Other designations include
conformance category, conformance degree, conformance xxx. "Conformance
level" is discouraged in new specifications, because of confusion with
"functional level".
- conformance requirement
- a condition for conformance of an implementation to a
specification. Conformance requirements can have different levels of
necessity: mandatory, recommended, or optional.
- deprecated
- an existing feature that has become outdated by a newer construct or
is no longer viable. Deprecated features should be avoided, since
they may be removed in some
future version.
- derived profile
- a profile that is created from a set of profile rules, where
these profile rules provide instructions for building profiles (i.e.,
defining profiles) and the rules are defined in a
specification.
- dimensions of variability (DoV)
- the ways in which different products that are conformant to a
specification may vary among themselves. In this Specification
Guidelines document, the dimensions of variability are used to help
organize, classify and assess the conformance characteristics of W3C
specifications.
- discretionary items
- deliberate and explicit grants of discretion by the specification to
the implementations, that describe or allow optionality of behavior,
functionality, parameter values, error handling, etc.
- functional level
- a technology subset that is one of a hierarchy of nested subsets,
ranging from minimal or core functionality to full or complete
functionally.
- implementation conformance statement
(ICS)
- a mechanism for providing standardized information about an
implementation of a specification, usually in the form of a
questionnaire in which product implementers report the product's
conformance to the specification. An ICS is used to
indicate which requirements, capabilities, and options have and have
not been implemented.
- informative text
- text in a specification whose purpose is informational or assistive
in the understanding or use of the specification, and which contains no
conformance requirements or test assertions.
- level
- a commonly used shorthand for functional level.
- module
- a collection of semantically-related elements, attributes, and
attribute values that represents a unit of functionality. Modules are
non-hierarchical, discrete divisions that are defined in coherent
sets.
- normative
text
- text in a specification which is prescriptive or contains conformance
requirements.
- obsolete
- feature that is no longer defined in the specification. A
feature is often deprecated before becoming obsolete.
- profile
- a subset of a technology that is tailored to meet specific functional
requirements of a particular application community. A profile may
address a single technology; or, a profile can also group a set of
technologies (i.e., from different specifications) and define how they
operate together. Profiles may be based on hardware considerations
associated with target product classes, or they may be driven by other
functional requirements of their target communities.
- profiling
- a method for defining subsets of a technology by identifying the
functionality, parameters, options, and/or implementation requirements
necessary to satisfy the requirements of a particular community of
users.
- specification category
- the generic name for the type of specification and the
technology it describes.
- strict conformance
- conformance of an implementation that employs only the requirements
and/or functionality defined in the specification and no more (i.e., no
extensions to the specification are implemented).
- test assertion
- a statement of behavior, action, or condition that can be measured or
tested. It is derived from the specification's requirements and provides a normative foundation from which test cases can be built. (See also QA Glossary [QA-GLOSSARY].)
- use case
- a specification mechanism or technique that captures the ways a
specification would be used, including the set of interactions between
the user and the specification as well as the services, tasks, and
functions the specification is required to perform.