This document describes the requirements for the scope, design, and features of the Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0. EARL is a vocabulary, the terms of which are defined across a set of specifications and technical notes, and that is used to describe test results. The primary motivation for developing this vocabulary is to facilitate the exchange of test results between Web accessibility evaluation tools in a vendor-neutral and platform-independent format. It also provides reusable terms for generic quality assurance and validation purposes.
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On January 1, 2005 and again on ??? 2008, the ERT WG was chartered to continue the development of EARL 1.0. The following is a collection of requirements set forth by the Working Group. Each requirement is labeled with one of the following key words:
WILL
The collection of specifications and technical notes that comprise the EARL 1.0 vocabulary produced by the Working Group must satisfy this requirement.
SHOULD
The collection of specifications and technical notes that comprise the EARL 1.0 vocabulary produced by the Working Group must address this requirement.
MAY
The collection of specifications and technical notes that comprise the EARL 1.0 vocabulary produced by the Working Group can exclude this requirement.
Note: These key words, as used in this requirements document, should not be confused with the key words defined by [RFC 2119].
EARL 1.0 will be a vocabulary, the terms of which are given in a set of specifications and explanatory technical notes for describing test results.
S02
EARL 1.0 will be sufficiently complete to describe test results from the domain of Web accessibility evaluation, such as evaluation with regard to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG].
S03
EARL 1.0 will be abstract enough to describe test results in other domains or contexts, such as Web quality assurance or Web Security.
S04
EARL 1.0 may be generic enough to describe test results eminating from testing non-web artifacts.
EARL 1.0 will define its vocabulary as a set of Resource Description Framework Schemas [RDF]
D02
The specifications and technical notes that comprise the EARL 1.0 vocabulary will be developed and published according to the [W3C QA Framework].
D03
The EARL 1.0 vocabulary will provide for test results and reports (collections of results) that can be generated or processed efficiently and in a time that is reasonable relative to the other functions implemented by applications that perform such processing or generation.
D04
EARL 1.0 should reuse existing vocabularies whenever possible and appropriate.
D05
EARL 1.0 will support the extension of its vocabulary to specific domains, including the domain of Web accessibility evaluation.
D06
EARL 1.0 will support automated, semi-automated, or manual testing.
D07
EARL 1.0 will provide a vocabulary that supports the internationalization infrastructure included in [RDF].
D08
EARL 1.0 will define a conformance model consisting of a minimal set of required terms and restrictions on how to use them.
EARL 1.0 will provide terms in its vocabulary for describing the context in which the results were obtained.
F02
EARL 1.0 will provide mechanisms to relate test results with the specific location within the subject that triggered the result where applicable.
F03
EARL 1.0 should support persistency of the validity of the results with respect to modifications or variations of the subject due to its dynamic nature where applicable.
F04
EARL 1.0 will support the combining of sets of test results into a single report consisting of these sets of results or of portions of a report (e.g. specification of test criteria, test subject, etc.) into a single report.