Re: DIagrams and PlantUML

Yeah, we are aware of those requirements.  They exist whether or not we do
something clever to generate the SVG / PNG version of a diagram.  One of
the things we want to look at is if the SVG generated by GraphViz /
PlantUML is able to be enhanced to improve its accessibility as the SVG
A11Y work firms up.  Rich?

On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 9:31 AM, Michael Cooper <cooper@w3.org> wrote:

> Whatever the approach to generating diagrams, it will be important to have
> at least an alt text, plus a long description unless the meaning conveyed
> by the diagram is fully conveyed by the surrounding text. Unless the
> diagram generator tool does a good job of that (which isn't usually the
> case although is in principle possible) there would be a need to manually
> enhance those aspects of the inserted image anyways, in order to meet the
> Pubrules requirement that TR documents conform to WCAG 2.0 level AA. That
> might impact the feasibility of fully automating the process.
>
> Michael
>
> On 27/01/2016 11:35 PM, Shane McCarron wrote:
>
> Okay Spec hive-mind, I have a quandary.  The Web Payments (IG, WG) and the
> Credentials Community Group, and the Verifiable Claims Task Force, and
> possibly others, are using PlantUML to draw clever little flow diagrams
> etc.  PlantUML is a simple textual UML grammar.  The plantuml engine is
> open source, and relies upon GraphViz (also open source) to generate
> various formats, including SVG.
>
> All that's great.  But the people using this don't *want* to have to
> generate an SVG version of their diagrams.  They just want to include the
> PlantUML source and have magic occur.  That is *possible* in ReSpec using
> @data-transform and a function, but the way it is possible is by relying
> upon a plantuml proxy server at www.plantuml.com.  I am personally wary
> of this because 1) we have no control over it, and 2) it just feels rude to
> start hitting their server all the time.
>
> So, here are the options as I see them:
>
>    1. Put an instance of a plantuml server up at the W3C somewhere and
>    hit that for dynamic diagram generation.
>    2. Use the plantuml.com server and just (fingers crossed) hope it
>    keeps working.
>    3. Add something into the github flow so that when certain filetypes
>    are pushed (*.pml) updated versions of their static versions are
>    automatically generated and put into the repo (*.svg).  That generation
>    could happen using plantuml.com or a w3c server or something else.
>    4. Tell people to generate static versions by hand and commit them
>    into the repo.
>
> What do others think?  Is there a more sensible way to approach this
> problem?
>
> P.S.  If you want to see an example of what is being done, check out the
> use case document we are working on at [1] or the web payments flows work
> as described in its wiki at [2].  Or, of course, just look at the plantuml
> site at [3]
>
> [1]
> http://www.opencreds.org/specs/source/use-cases/#how-a-verifiable-claim-might-be-used
> [2] https://github.com/w3c/webpayments/wiki/Flows
> [3] http://www.plantuml.com
>
>
> --
> Shane McCarron
> Managing Director, Applied Testing and Technology, Inc.
>
>
>


-- 
Shane McCarron
Managing Director, Applied Testing and Technology, Inc.