Glossary updates

Here are glossary updates for Matt to add and for people to comment. I was
inspired by ATAG, Google, WAI glossary, and the dictionary: word /
definition / (my comments)

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*** Alert ***

An alert makes the author aware of events or actions that require a response
or reaction, but not necessarily immediately. The event or actions that
trigger an alert may have serious consequences if ignored.

(Was worry about conflict with inform. They are both used extensively
throughout however, so it would require a bit of surgery to cut out one or
the other. The term alert does tend to imply danger or serious problems -
moreso than a message that is just informing you of something minor. There
is a degree of severity, but I was afraid to introduce too many new terms -
I could hear Tim shouting in the background. ;-) )

*** Configurability ***
Configurability refers to the adjustment of authoring tool settings, such as
layout, rendering style, or other parameters that may affect the author's
ability to use the authoring interface or editing methods. The author must
then be able to store these adjustments, or author preferences, so they can
be used in all future sessions with the authoring tool.

(I tried to avoid certain terms from WAI glossary like persistance. I didn't
want to introduce terms solely for the sake of the glossary - "les mots pour
les mots"!)

*** Display ***
Display refers to the presentation of information to the author, either
visually or through a device such as a screen reader.

(I got hung up on the visual aspect and wondered if it was only visual, or
if the presentation of info through a screen reader counted as well. All our
references seem visual.)

*** Inform ***
To inform is to make the author aware of an event or situation using methods
such as alert, prompt, sound, flash. These methods may be unobtrusive (that
is, presented without stopping the author's current activity), or intrusive
(that is, interrupting the author's current activity). 

(Not sure what to do with this note: @@make sure "passive" inform is
possible i.e. alt in "image insertion dialog"@@ ) Unobtrusive covers this,
yes, no?

*** Object ***
An object is one or more elements that together are perceived as one entity.

(This may be thin, but the definition in the WAI glossary is humongous and
our use of object is not that detailed. And I am not about to write a
handbook in OOP or OLE!! I think we can have a little definition here for
now and see what people say. Long-term, the ATAG could have a little
definition and then link to a new, updated glossary for an expanded
definiton.

This makes element a sub-set of object and I would then change have to
change our definition of element - changing the word "element" to "item".)

*** Element *** SLIGHT TWEAK ONLY
An element is any identifiable item within a document, for example, a
character, word, image, paragraph, or spreadsheet cell. In [HTML4] and
[XML], an element refers to a pair of tags and their content, or an "empty"
tag - one that requires no closing tag or content.

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Comments, anyone??

regards, Karen Mardahl

Received on Friday, 19 November 2004 22:45:38 UTC