re: Guidelines intro - Eric's comments

Actually I would like to change my earlier suggestion. I propose that the
introduction I proposed (a modifed form of Eric's proposed abstract) be used
as the abstract, and that an edited version of the introduction to the
guidelines section be used as the introduction to the document. It seems
unnecessary to have 2 introductions in the guidelines document. However I
would suggest that we actually expand the introduction to the guidelines
section in the techniques document, incorporating Eric's proposed changes.

So the proposed intro for the guidelines becomes:

The various authoring tools used to generate Web content play a critical role
in determining the form and accessibility of the Web.  Authoring tools are
used to automate the mechanical tasks that are part of producing Web pages.
The power of this automation can enhance the accessibility of the Web if it
is used to ensure that the code produced promotes accessibility, and frees
the author to concentrate on the higher level problems of overall design,
content, description, etc. It is imperative that authoring tools generate
content that is accessible, and that they are accessible themselves, to allow
people to be consumers and producers of Web content on an equal footing,
regardless of disability.

The accessibility of authoring tools encmpasses some general principles of
software accessibility, and some features which are specific requirements for
authoring. The accessibility of the content produced depends on the ability
of the tool to be used in producing accessible markup, and on the user
interface of the tool enabling, informing, and encouraging the use of
accessible markup authoring practices. These Guidelines refer extensively to
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which details accessibility
requirements for markup itself, and include checkpoints which are basic
requirements for the accessibility of the tool and its output. In addition,
there are guidelines and checkpoints which are uniquely relevant to the role
authoring tools play in guiding the author to produce accessible content.

charles
--Charles McCathieNevile            mailto:charles@w3.org
phone: +1 617 258 0992   http://www.w3.org/People/Charles
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative    http://www.w3.org/WAI
MIT/LCS  -  545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139,  USA

Received on Friday, 21 May 1999 19:31:31 UTC