RE: Proposals for revision of the Plain Language SC proposals for WCAG 2.1

Not sure if I have a vote as the SC manager.

While I certainly see the utility of using reading level, especially from an automated testing point of view, I’m concerned that some of the requirements around controls, instructions and error messages will not be as clear. I’m more than happy to revisit this if the original gets rejected but would not be comfortable with a straight substitution. If I have a vote, it is 3.

Jim

From: lisa.seeman [mailto:lisa.seeman@zoho.com]
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2017 8:08 PM
To: Jeanne Spellman <jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com>
Cc: public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org
Subject: Re: Proposals for revision of the Plain Language SC proposals for WCAG 2.1

We had issues with reading level , for example the word "mode" is a lower reading level than "hot or cold" . the lower reading level is much harder to understand.
The reason to go with Jeanne's proposal is because wcag _might_ find it more testable. This would only be, in my opinion, because they have not bothered read the whole proposal and testability section  (or they do not want new tools) Also i am not sure it is more testable in different languages and that is essential for WCAG. Wordlists requiremnts however, can work easily in any language and wordlists can be automatically generated by parsing a few sites.

I agree that the "unless..."  clause is only human testable but that it very typical for wcag.


I want to suggest three options

1 -  we retract our current pull requests and put these in instead

2 - we go with the current pull requests. If they fail and the comments are hard to address then we go with Jeanne's

3 -we go with the current pull requests. we can revisit this if needed

My vote is 3, to go with the current wording and see what happens

All the best

Lisa Seeman

LinkedIn<http://il.linkedin.com/in/lisaseeman/>, Twitter<https://twitter.com/SeemanLisa>



---- On Mon, 06 Feb 2017 20:00:24 +0200 Jeanne Spellman<jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com<mailto:jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com>> wrote ----

A group of us at The Paciello Group (TPG) have been meeting every week in January to comment on the WCAG 2.1 proposals.  Because we test WCAG 2.0 all day, every (business) day, we have a lot of experience with both the language of WCAG and the testing of WCAG.  What we decided this week is that we want to focus our efforts toward helping COGA TF draft success criteria that will get into WCAG 2.1 and will accomplish most of what you want -- even if it is phrased differently.

We started with the proposals that we thought would be the least controversial to the WCAG WG to include.  I looked at the Plain Language proposals and did my best to look at the needs identified by COGA TF, and craft language that I thought would be acceptable to the WCAG WG and be included in the first draft version of WCAG 2.1.

The wording is quite different, but in my opinion, addresses the needs identified.  I chose reading level, because it is internationally standardized, and there are automated tests already available.  When I look at Technique  G153: Making the text easier to read  https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G153.html , it covers most of the items that the COGA TF identified.

Issue 30 Proposal:

Understandable Labels:  Navigation elements and form labels do not require reading ability greater than primary education level.  (A)  [link to WCAG’s definition of primary education level from UNESCO standard]



Issue 41:

Understandable Instructions:  Headings, error messages and instructions for completing tasks do not require reading ability greater than lower secondary education level.  (AA)  [link to WCAG’s definition of lower secondary level from UNESCO standard]



Delta 3.1.5 (rewrite of existing WCAG 3.1.5)

Understandable Content: Blocks of text either:  (AAA)

·        have a reading level no more advanced than lower secondary education, or

·        a version is provided that does not require reading ability more advanced than lower secondary education. [links to WCAG’s definitions of lower secondary education and blocks of text]