Re: window.print ()

> Accessibility, means that if the current standard doesn't allow an 
> accessible in window print button; Then we need to change the standard.

The problem with im content controls is that they are all different.

Nothing prevents a browser having a print button targetted at those
with learning disabilities, although I would argue that such a browser
needs to be part of a complete hardware plus software solution, in
which, for example, placing a sheet of paper in the printer means print
the current page and use subsequent sheets until complete or the page
is changed.  That seems to be the lowest level of abstraction I can 
think of, and it seems that your users are unable to work with abstractions.

> A brief survey of flash sites will show you that by far the majority 
> that provide a suitable activity also have their own print button.

This reflects the commercial use of Flash.  Flash authors want total
control, and they generally don't care about the ability of their users
to generalise to other sites; this is actually why there is a big conflict
with many of your requirements and other accessiblity - you are often trying
to do the same things that commercial designers do, the very things that
result in accessibility problems for commercial web sites.  To the the 
extent that your wants are aligned with commercial designers, you many of
your questions would be better answered in the forums used by them to learn
how to trick popular browsers into doing what they want.

I think that there is a useit.com article on DVD menus, and the difficulties
that having every DVD different causes.

> migrating understanding to the toolbar, rather understanding that the 
> timescale is years rather than days.

It may be years, but at least its only years * 1.  If they have to learn
the design conventions for print buttons for n different sites, that might
be years * n, even if they don't forget the first one befor they have 
learned the n-th.

An ordinary user will get to cope with Flash, in content, print buttons, 
because they will learn an abstraction of a print button that allows them
to recognize many different forms.  That is still more difficult an 
abstraction than using the menus (note that for infrequently used 
applications I use the menus, because even I have difficulty guessing what
the icons mean, because, except for a very few (or which print is usually
one) icons are difficult to guess.  For an ordinary user, icons are not an
aid to cognition, but simply an aid to *re*-finding frequently used functions.

I sense, that, like many commercial authors, you are trying to use the web
browser as a tool of the author, when it should be a tool of the reader.

Received on Sunday, 25 May 2003 03:48:07 UTC