configure or control

I took an action item to summarize the use of the term "configure" in
checkpoints to verify that it means "static choice" appropriately 
(e.g., 4.9).

Here is my opinion on which checkpoints need a "static choice" (go to
a preference dialog somewhere and set a configuration option which
then applies generally) versus which ones call for the ability to control
dynamically (quickly change the content I'm looking at right now but don't
save the change as my new default, or maybe offer me a choice of whether
to make this my new default), versus which ones would be best served by
having both a default configuration set statically but also an easy way
to control dynamically.

One checkpoint would be reasonably served by only dynamic control, though
I can see an argument for it having both configure and control:
4.8 Allow the user to configure the audio volume. [Priority 2]
This should be changed to "control" rather than "configure" or to both.
Configure alone is not appropriate because audio level varies greatly between
presentations and you don't want to dig through preferences dialogs every
time you want to change the volume. (In practice, multimedia players
generally make it easy to control audio volume. There tends not to be
a configuration choice. I think the SYMM group recently discussed whether
authors should be able to specify volume and ended up with the status
quo, which is that everything starts at 50%.)

Here are 11 checkpoints for which I think "configure" is an appropriate term:
2.2 For presentations that require user input within a specified time 
interval, allow the user to configure the time interval (e.g., to extend it or 
to cause the user agent to pause the presentation automatically and await user 
input before proceeding). [Priority 1]
2.3 If content available in a viewport has equivalent alternatives, provide 
easy access in context to the alternatives. [Priority 1]
For example, if an image in an HTML document has text equivalents, provide 
access to them by rendering them nearby, allowing the user to configure the 
user agent to render them in place of the image, or allowing the user to 
follow a readily available link to them.
4.2 Allow the user to configure font family. [Priority 1]
4.3 Allow the user to configure foreground color. [Priority 1]
4.4 Allow the user to configure background color. [Priority 1]
4.11 Allow the user to configure synthesized speech pitch, gender, and other 
articulation characteristics. [Priority 2]
4.13 Allow the user to configure how the selection is highlighted (e.g., 
foreground and background color). [Priority 1]
4.14 Allow the user to configure how the content focus is highlighted (e.g., 
foreground and background color). [Priority 1]
4.15 Allow the user to configure whether the current focus moves automatically 
to a viewport that opens without an explicit request from the user. [Priority 
2]
4.16 Allow the user to configure the user agent to limit the number of open 
viewports. [Priority 2]
Some users may become disoriented when there are too many open viewports. 
Refer also to checkpoint 4.15, checkpoint 5.5, and checkpoint 9.3.
9.3 Allow the user to configure notification preferences for common types of 
content and viewport changes. [Priority 3]
For example, allow the user to choose to be notified (or not) that a script 
has been executed, that a new viewport has been opened, that a pulldown menu 
has been opened, that a new frame has received focus, etc.
All of the checkpoints and discussion in Guideline 10.

Here are 6 checkpoints which I think would be better off with both
control and configure. You may notice that the text after the first one
(checkpoint 4.1) gives examples of both static and dynamic changes:
4.1 Allow the user to configure the size of text. [Priority 1]
For example, allow the user to specify a font size directly through the user 
agent user interface or in a user style sheet. Or, allow the user to zoom or 
magnify content.
4.9 Allow the user to configure synthesized speech playback rate. [Priority 1]
4.10 Allow the user to configure synthesized speech volume. [Priority 1]
7.7 Allow the user to configure structured navigation. [Priority 3]
For example, allow the user to navigate only paragraphs, or only headings and 
paragraphs, etc.
8.5 Allow the user to configure the outline view. [Priority 3]
For example, allow the user to configure the level of detail of the outline. 
Refer also to checkpoint 8.4 and checkpoint 5.4.
8.7 Allow the user to configure what information about links to present. 
[Priority 3]
Note: Refer also to checkpoint 8.6.

Hope this is helpful.
Madeleine

-- 
Madeleine Rothberg
The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
madeleine_rothberg@wgbh.org
http://www.wgbh.org/ncam

Received on Wednesday, 10 May 2000 17:08:54 UTC