- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 07:01:33 -0500 (EST)
- To: WAI GL <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
NB: These are personal comments - the official W3C staff contact, Daniel Dardailler, may not respond for a couple of days due to a time-zone difference. Comments interspersed - look for CO:: and CMN:: On Fri, 15 Jan 1999, Charles (Chuck) Oppermann wrote: << Thus it is necessary to recognise that, in order to make web content accessible, there must be a static version of it made available in addition to, or in place of, any version that relies on user agents to execute scripts. >> Let me see if I get this right - any page which employs scripting, or does dynamic effects, with or without scripting, is considered inaccessible unless a static version is also available? CMN:: Absolutely correct as far as I can see. Of course there are a number of ways to make the content accessible, the simplest of which is often to provide a server-side implentation of client-side scripting. CO:: My goal in making comments to this list is to try to improve the relevance the guidelines have to the type of HTML design I'm working with. I look at http://www.investor.msn.com and http://www.msnbc.com and ask "How can the guidelines help here?" and am at a loss - scripting isn't covered (provide static versions), dynamic HTML (not W3C) isn't covered, ActiveX objects (not W3C) aren't covered. Yet - the guidelines are supposed to be for all "web content" and not specific to HTML. Does that mean that HTML contained in product documentation and user interfaces (such as many Microsoft products) are not covered? CMN:: No, it simply means that at the present time there are many Microsoft products (as well as many parts of the web which are not Microsoft products) which are not accessible. The things you mention are covered in the guidelines. From the most recent Working Draft: A.2 Provide descriptions for all important graphics, scripts or applets if they are not fully described through alternative text or in the document's content. A.9 Ensure that pages using newer technologies will transform gracefully into an accessible form if the technology is not supported or is turned off. A.13 Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technology or older browsers will operate correctly. Charles McCathieNevile
Received on Saturday, 16 January 1999 07:01:35 UTC