- From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 12:11:39 +1100 (AEDT)
- To: WAI Markup Guidelines <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
My basic position would be that any recommendations pertaining to natural language should at most be priority 3 suggestions. Clear examples of difficulty that come to mind are those in which the content is in itself complex, or in which the person who is responsible for the markup and other technical aspects of design has no control over the text itself. For example, the developers of a web site which provides the full text of court decisions can presumably influence the markup, but not the content, which is written by the Court itself. Similarly, there is inherent complexity in documents that are devoted to highly technical subjects, in whatever discipline they may occur. This is what I mean by maintaining that stylistic appropriateness is context dependent. A governmental web site intended to inform the public regarding electoral matters, to take a somewhat different example, should present the information in a range of different languages (assuming a reasonably heterogeneous society) and take steps to aid comprehension by avoiding unnecessary technicalities, using direct and succinct language, providing a clear structure, etc.
Received on Sunday, 25 October 1998 20:11:48 UTC