Increasing the testability of prominence in ATAG2

Hi all,

After discussing "prominence" a bit more with Tim and getting some 
feedback from one of his colleagues, I have a few proposals for cleaning 
up the way we use "prominence" and making it more testable:

(TIM: I'm sorry to see you regrets from the call, your thoughts on this 
proposal would be most appreciated)

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(1) Modifying the definition, itself:

prominence
A heuristic measure of how likely users are to notice items (controls or 
groups of controls) in a user interface that they are operating. 
Prominence is affected by numerous factors, including: the number of 
navigation steps required, the reading order position, visual properties 
(e.g., size, spacing, colour), and even the modality of use (e.g., mouse 
vs. keyboard use). For purposes of conformance to ATAG 2.0, item A is 
considered to be *at least as prominent* as item B if:
* (a) both items occur in the same item container (e.g., menu for menu 
items, list for list items, dialog box for text boxes)
* (b) item A is highlighted if item B is highlighted.
* (c) item A occurs higher in the reading order or immediately follows 
item B.

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(2a) Rewording B.1.1.2, B.1.1.4, B.1.1.6 for clarity:

B.1.1.2 Author Choice of Technologies (Level A): If the authoring tool 
provides authors with Web content technology options, THEN ANY 
*ACCESSIBLE technology* (WCAG Level A) options THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR THE 
TASK ARE *AT LEAST AS PROMINENT* AS ANY OTHER TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS. (Level A)

(2b) Add this sentence to the end of the definition of "Technology":

An *accessible technology* is a technology that may be used in a way 
that is "accessibility supported" (For more information on 
"accessibility supported", see WCAG 2.0).

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(3) Rewording B.2.1.1, B.2.1.2, B.2.1.3:

B.2.1.1 Guide Accessible (Level A): If authors are prompted for any 
information as content is being added or updated (e.g., by an image 
modification dialog), then:
(a) PROMPTS ARE INCLUDED for any accessibility information required for 
that content to meet WCAG Level A (Level A)
(b) THE ACCESSIBILITY PROMPTS ARE *AT LEAST AS PROMINENT*.

---

(4) Rewording B.2.5.3:

B.2.5.3 Template Selection Mechanism: If authors are provided with a 
template selection mechanism, then (Level A):
(a) the selection mechanism indicates the accessibility status of 
templates (if known), AND
(b) any accessible template options ARE *AT LEAST AS PROMINENT* AS other 
TEMPLATE options.

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(5) Rewording B.2.5.7:

B.2.5.7 Pre-Authored Content Selection Mechanism: If authors are 
provided with a selection mechanism for pre-authored content other than 
templates (e.g., clip art gallery, widget repository, design themes), 
then (Level AA):
(a) the selection mechanism indicates the accessibility status of the 
pre-authored content (if known), AND
(b) any accessible options ARE *AT LEAST AS PROMINENT* AS other 
PRE-AUTHORED CONTENT options.

---

(6) Rewording the rationale of B.3.1:

Guideline B.3.1 Rationale: When authors are learning a new authoring 
tool, they may find and learn to use the first authoring action they 
encounter that achieves their intended outcome. Since they may be 
unaware of the issue of accessibility, it preferable that accessible 
content be an additional unintended outcome, rather than inaccessible 
content.

---

(7) Rewording B.3.1.1:

B.3.1.1 Accessible Options Prominent : If authors are provided with 
multiple options for an authoring task, options that will result in 
content conforming to *WCAG* Level A ARE *AT LEAST AS PROMINENT* AS 
OPTIONS THAT WILL NOT. (Level A)

---

(8) Minor edit to B.3.3.4:

B.3.3.4 At Least as Prominent: Accessible content support features are 
*at least as prominent* [DEL] as comparable features related to other 
types of Web content problems (e.g., invalid markup, syntax errors, 
spelling and grammar errors). (Level AA)



Cheers,
Jan



-- 
Jan Richards, M.Sc.
User Interface Design Lead
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
Faculty of Information (i-school)
University of Toronto

   Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
   Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
   Phone: 416-946-7060
   Fax:   416-971-2896

Received on Monday, 9 March 2009 18:46:18 UTC