Re: USEMAP

 I agree that long descriptions for images and other objects should each be
placed in a seperate file rather than placed together.  Implementing long
descriptions in this way makes it easier to automate the accessiblity
authoring process in HTML authoring packages.  For instance if a file called
foo.gif is placed in a document, the HTML authoring package might search for
an existing foo-desc.html file that could be used as a default.  If the file
is found, a D-link (or other linking method) could be set up automatically
by the authoring package; if the file is not found, the user could be
prompted to write one without having to worry about setting up a whole new
document.  Widespread use of description files will only be a realistic goal
if the description formats chosen are easy to author, update and re-use.

Jan Richards
jan.richards@utoronto.ca
(416) 946-3001
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
University of Toronto


-----Original Message-----
From: Gregg Vanderheiden <po@trace.wisc.edu>
To: 'Jason White' <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>; WAI Working Group
<w3c-wai-wg@w3.org>
Date: July 25, 1997 12:56 AM
Subject: RE: USEMAP

I would not recommend putting all the long descriptions together on a page
unless they are very carefully labelled.  It is very confusing when you get
there. Most people don't get that they should only read part of the page and
then jump back.

Putting each on its own page would be option 1
Putting them all at the bottom (as an appendix if you will) is another.  It
allows access if you download the document but has the same problem cited
above unless each paragraph is very carefully labeled.
Gregg

-- ------------------------------
Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Professor - Dept of Industrial Engineering
Director - Trace R & D Center
s-151 Waisman Center
University of Wisconsin- Madison  53705
gv@trace.wisc.edu,    WWW & FTP at  Trace.Wisc.Edu
for a list of our Listserves send "index" to listproc@trace.wisc.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason White [SMTP:jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU]
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 1997 5:55 PM
To: WAI Working Group
Subject: RE: USEMAP

On Wed, 23 Jul 1997, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:

> The longdesc COULD point to text lower on the same page...  or to a
> separate page.
>
This is correct. However, in most cases, a separate page would probably be
required, since presumably most users who do not wish to read the long
description would not appreciate its being included as part of the
document. Perhaps if it appeared at the end of the text, under its own
heading, those who chose not to read the description could readily ignore
it. One solution might be to create a separate document which contains
long descriptions of images that appear at a particular web site or in a
particular directory. Each such description could be named and referred to
in LONGDESC attributes by means of an URL fragment:
longdesc="http://www.somewhere.org/descriptions.html#description3"

Received on Friday, 25 July 1997 12:29:41 UTC