Re: WCAG Compliance Levels

Essentially my position is that the compliance ratings should not be
eroded as a concession to those who are unwilling to deploy CSS. I fully
appreciate the concern but would maintain that the problem lies with the
authors and user agent developers, not with the guidelines.

All of the newer graphical browsers, and at least one of the text-based
versions, now support CSS, so the remaining problem is merely one of
education. If, as the guidelines require, structural elements are used
appropriately, this of itself should be sufficient to ensure that older
user agents can present the document intelligibly even when the value of
the style sheets is thereby lost.

I would conclude by emphasizing that I would be strongly opposed to any
erosion of the requirement, which is integral to the double-a rating, that
style sheets be used to control layout and presentation.

In any case, if the guidelines proceed as a recommendation, we have now
long since moved beyond the final point at which substantive changes can
be made.

Received on Monday, 3 May 1999 18:56:26 UTC