[TECH] links

Further to our meeting last week there was an action item to put forward a
proposal for the handling of text links in the Techniques 2.0 document.  It
is important to note the context of the Techniques document as juxtaposed to
the Guidelines. The WCAG Guidelines, should have some longevity because of
their platform & technology independence.  On the other hand the Techniques
document should reflect current technology, its uses, and what's practical
in the near term. 

It might be helpful to draw an analogy between WCAG documents and business
planning concepts.  One might consider the Guidelines a "Strategic" planning
document (long term), the Gateway an "Operational" planning document (mid
term), and the Techniques document a "Tactical" planning document (Short
term). (Go nice Joe this is just an analogy).

So our job in the Techniques document is to put forth practical, current
suggestions on how best to currently meet the principles laid out in the
Guidelines. 

Michael and I have solicited responses from the Screen Reader community.
There is unanimous consensus among those responses that the Techniques
document should continue to suggest that web masters not use meaningless or
inconsequential links, (Click here, read more, null link text etc).  The
Screen Reader community does not feel this undermines the requirement to
provide structure in the document.  They feel this is a distinct issue.  

We should flag this issue and revisit it but at the present time it seems
impractical to open the gate to meaningless or inconsequential links.  The
nature of the Techniques document is that it should evolve with the current
technology environment. In the short term, which is the scope of the
Techniques document, the disability community does not appear ready to relax
the WCAG 1.0 requirements on links.  Perhaps we should honour that. 

Cheers

David MacDonald

=========================

 Access Empowers People...

       ...Barriers Disable Them 

         <http://www.eramp.com/> www.eramp.com