WWW8 Developer's Day Information
Last Update: 19 April 1999

Developer's Day 1999
Call For Presentations

This page describes the WWW8 developer day tracks, along with contact information for the track chairs -- if you have a proposal for a presentation, please send it to the appropriate chair(s).. As time progresses, some of these tracks may disappear, and others emerge -- I must keep the number at 8 or below. To do this, some sessions may only run for half the day, while others may be merged into another session

Program Tracks

  1. Distributed Computing, CORBA/COM, and HTTP-NG
    Ian Brackenbury, IBM

    Talk Proposals to: Ian.Brackenbury@acm.org
    The session on distributed computing will tentatively include sessions on the following topics: topics:
    1. CORBA-COM+ interoperability
      • how much is feasible, how complete is the mapping
      • transactions, security, distributed systems mgmt and debug
      • performance and tools
    2. RMI over IIOP: Java over CORBA
      • relationship to RMI over Sun's protocol - how complete is the mapping
      • transactions, security, distributed systems mgmt and debug
      • performance and tools
    3. Voyager: Distribution infrastructure transparency
      • what are distribution services provided by Voyager
      • what are the challenges for a common API over CORBA, COM, ...
      • transactions, security, distributed systems mgmt and debug
      • performance and tools
    4. JINI: network-wide dynamic discovery and automatic registration
      • what's the nature of the problem JINI addresses
      • what is JINI and how is it being used today
      • compare JINI with existing similar services from eg CORBA, Java, Microsoft
    5. Inferno and the Web
      • what is Inferno and what's the model of distribution it assumes
      • customer experience with using Inferno - technical challenges
      • where does it fit
    6. Java Messaging Service (JMS) - the making of a Java standard
      • role of messaging in Web-centric distributed applications of next millenium
      • the JMS design in overview
      • technical challenges and current status of implementations
    7. Hydra: high performance distributed user interface
    8. Development tools for distributed systems
    9. WinCE distributed object support over the Web


  2. XML, DOM and Related Technologies
    Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems
    and Lauren Wood, SoftQuad
    Talk proposals to: Jon and Lauren; Jon.Bosak@eng.Sun.COMlauren@sqwest.bc.ca
    Leading developments in XML, DOM, and other core technologies and interfaces (XSL, XLink, Schemas, SAX, etc.) XML and related standards -- most importantly the DOM API, but also including XLink/XPointer, XML Schemas, and XSL -- constitute the future syntactic infrastructure of the Web. This track presents up-to-the-minute developments in Web-related technologies based on these standards. Proposals featuring running code are of special interest and will be given priority in selecting the presentations.

  3. Databases, Naming, Indexing, and Searching
    Stu Weibel and Eric Miller, OCLC

    Metadata; RDF/Schemas; namespaces

  4. Scalable Graphics
    Chris Lilley, W3C

    Talk Proposals to: chris@w3.org
    'Scalable Graphics' is one of those obvious missing pieces of the Web which has now started to happen. With the release of the WebCGM profile as a W3C Recommendation, and the initial drafts of the SVG namespace for XML, the prospects for Open, vendor-neutral scalable graphics are looking up.

    This session will examine the implementation issues arising from these specifications, as previously high-end features such as antialiasing, true transparency, image filtering and clipping, and color management move into the mainstream and meet standard Web technologies such as XML, XLink, CSS and XSL to produce the high quality hypergraphics of tomorrow's Web.

    One part of this track will be run jointly with the Style Sheets and Formatting track, to cover style sheets applied to vector graphics.



  5. Style Sheets and Formatting
    Håkon Lie, W3C

    Talk Propsals to: howcome@w3.org -- new address howcome@operasoftware.com
    This track will present the latest developments in style sheets for HTML and XML documents. Leading implementors will present how CSS is supported in their products today, and how they expect to see style sheets functionality extend in the future. The scope of this session includes the relationship between formating in CSS and XSL, and there will also be a session on test suites and how they can help developers ensure interoperable style sheets implementatons.

    One part of this track will be run jointly with the Graphics track, to cover style sheets applied to vector graphics.



  6. Web Scripting Language Forum
    Cameron Laird, Network Engineered Solutions

    Talk propsals to: claird@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM
    How do language issues impact development of Web applications? How should language technologies be chosen for Web work? Have you pulled back a JavaScript code base from client-side to server-side? Does your language process international character sets transparently?

    Contributors to this session will address these and related questions on the basis of their own development experiences and prospects, with balanced attention to the costs and liabilities of the technologies they employed. The format for presentation is flexible; we can schedule slots as short as ten minutes, and as long as forty-five, if justified.

    Presenters need to be prepared to field questions on the WWW8 theme of "accessibility", that is, availability of Web work to "users with physical or other impairments as an important principle of Web development."

    The range of topics pertinent to this Forum is wide; other possibilities include:

    • How do you alter/extend Web applications after deployment?
    • How central a role does/should data storage play in Web applications?
    • Should an organization use multiple (computer) languages in constructing Web applications?
    • How does uses of open-source languages compare to proprietary ones?

    Scripting might appear on client- or server-side; it might have such different developmental life cycles as are typical with

    • ColdFusion
    • Frontier
    • ASP
    • hand-coded JavaScript
    • Perl-ized CGI

    It might even be useful to talk about projects which reveal limits to scripting's applicability. In all cases, though, it's crucial to make clear how a language technology makes a difference. A bare report that a recent deployment used PHP is not sufficient; interpretation of PHP's role in a successful delivery is likely to make a good talk, though.



  7. Accessibility: Software and Design
    Jutta Treviranus, University of Toronto

    Talk Proposals to: jutta.treviranus@utoronto.ca
    Barrier Free design is a topic every developer will be compelled to attend to, if not because of the market incentives or the design advantages, then for legal reasons. Considering access from the start in the design cycle is far more efficient and inexpensive than being forced to retrofit and fix later on. Many developers have come to know the meaning of the "curbcut advantage." Curbcuts refer to the ramps cut into sidewalks or footpaths. These were initially created to allow people in wheelchairs easier access. Once they were widely implemented it became clear that they were of great advantage to people who were not using wheelchairs (e.g., people with baby carriages, shopping carts, roller blades, bicycles, etc.). E-mail, alt-text, captioning, the Finder menu on the Mac, keyboard equivalents in a GUI, and voice browsing, were all motivated by the needs of people with disabilities but have obvious advantages for the general consumer.

    What constitutes barrier free access for emerging technologies or evolving standards is not well defined. Although the general principles of barrier free design are well documented, there is no systematic prescriptive process in place for designing accessible leading edge software. By necessity this is a ongoing participatory process.

    This day long session will grapple with accessible design of emerging web-based standards and software. Developers are encouraged to present unsolved or partially solved access challenges for input or discussion during the session. Presenters are invited to discuss techniques that result in barrier free web-based products and case studies of successful or unsuccessful development strategies or business practices that are directed at barrier free design.

    If you are interested in presenting please submit a proposal for a 30 to 45 minute presentation. Please specify the access challenge, what sector you represent, will you be discussing the process of creating barrier free software or specific techniques and design decisions? Please frame your presentations for developers: talk in specific technical terms not in generalities. A panel of barrier-free design experts will be available to respond to sessions seeking input.



  8. Open Source Software
    Brian Behlendorf, O'Reilly and Associates/The Apache Group

    Talk Proposals to: brian@apache.org

    From the hype and press attention one might think that Open Source software will cure cancer and bring world peace. Well, not anytime soon; but not only has the open-source approach to development helped create a rich set of world-class applications for the Web, it has also helped ensure the interoperability of Web software through adherence to common, open protocols. Thus, it's important to consider open-source approaches to software development for any type of Web application. However, the OSS approach is not without its limitations or pitfalls, both for technological and for organizational reasons.

    This day-long session will dive into the technical and operational aspects of an Open Source approach to software development for the Web. Project developers will give overviews and details of various projects, both on the Web client and Web server side; as well as discuss strategies for OSS development that have worked, or not worked, for their development teams.

    We invite anyone involved to a significant degree in an active open-source project to submit a proposal for a 30-45 minute presentation on the above topics. In your presentation, be clear to show how an OSS approach either helped, or hurt, the goals for the project. We would like a broad set of projects represented, as well as a variety in project models."

Submitting A Presentation Proposal

The sessions are only as good as the presentations they contain -- and that factor is entirely decided by you! The session chairs will be (and are already are) actively soliciting presenters, but you can, if you wish, contact them yourself if you have something interesting you would like to present. The criteria for presentations are:

If you're interested in presenting, please contact the relevant session chair directly. Their email addresses are provided above.

Ideas and/or Suggestions

If you have additional ideas and/or suggestions for W3C, please contact ian.graham@utoronto.ca.


Ian Graham
Centre for Adaptive and Academic Technology
University of Toronto
Last Update: 19 April 1999