Guideline 4.2 Provide access to event handlers

Hi! Jim's email said that 4.2.2 needed attention, so I looked over 4.2 
and suggest the following rewrite that would making it clearer and 
easier to read; it shouldn't change the meaning, only the wording.

Suggested new wording:

    *4.2.1 List event handlers: *The user can, through keyboard input
    alone, have presented the list of _input device event handlers_
    explicitly associated with the _content focus element_. (Level A)

    *4.2.2 Activate any event handler: *The user can, through keyboard
    input alone, _activate_ any _input device event handler_ explicitly
    associated with the _content focus element_. (Level A)

    *4.2.3 Activate all event handlers: *The user can, through keyboard
    input alone, simultaneously _activate_ all _input device event
    handlers_ of the same type explicitly associated with the _content
    focus element_. (Level A)


The changes were (a) normalized their structure to "the user 
can...content focus", (b) changing "all" to "any" in 4.2.1, (c) changing 
the titles to stand alone, (d) changing "the element designated by the 
content focus" to "the content focus element", (e) replace "activate, as 
a group, all event handlers" with "simultaneously activate all event 
handlers", (f) changed the one instance of "event handlers" to "input 
device event handlers" to match the other items, (g) changed "event 
handler that is explicitly associated" to "event handler explicitly 
associated", (h) removed "(including those for pointing devices, voice, 
etc.)" from the middle of the first sentence--I think it can go into one 
of the secondary documents, but we could include it as a Note or second 
sentence if you prefer, (i) swapped 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 to make it easier 
for the reader to spot the key difference between the "Activate any" and 
"Activate all" criteria.

The above rewrite is an attempt to address the following concerns:

    1. The word "all" is used in very different senses in 4.2.1 and
    4.2.3; so I suggest changing one to use a different phrase.

    2. 4.2.1, 4.2.2, and 4.2.3 are all worded very differently even
    though they are trying to say very similar things. (For example,
    "The user can...the content focus" vs. "For the content focus...is
    provided".) I suggest normalizing them so the functional differences
    are not obscured by all the simple wording differences.

    3. Minor, but might be able to slightly simplify 4.2.3 by replacing
    "activate, as a group, all event handlers" with "simultaneously
    activate all event handlers".

    4. The titles aren't clear when taken out of context.

    5. Could we simplifying the language, such as by replacing "the
    element designated by the content focus" with "the content focus
    element", "the content focused element", or even "the content
    focus"? (We'd need to add the selected phrase to the definitions
    section, of course.)

    6. Could simplify the sentences by taking out the parenthetical
    aside, removing "that are", etc.

    7. Should normalize use of "input device event handlers" vs. just
    "event handlers".

    8. If possible, I think swapping 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 would make it
    easier to see the parallel and differences between the "activate
    any" and "activate all" success criteria.


For comparison, here is the current wording:

    *4.2.1 All Available: *The user can activate, through keyboard input
    alone, all input device event handlers (including those for pointing
    devices, voice, etc.) that are explicitly associated with the
    element designated by the content focus. (Level A)

    *4.2.2 Show All: *For the element with content focus, the list of
    input device event types for which there are event handlers
    explicitly associated with the element are provided. (Level A)

    *4.2.3 Activate All: *The user can activate, as a group, all event
    handlers of the same input device event type, for the same control.
    (Level A)

In addition, one thing NOT addressed by the rewrite above:

    9. In the definitions we should clarify the meaning of "input device
    event types", which is talked around but not explicitly addressed.

Thanks,
Greg

Received on Thursday, 3 December 2009 03:30:48 UTC