- From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 09:52:04 +1000 (AEST)
- To: WAI Working Group <w3c-wai-wg@w3.org>
Greg has provided a very good model around which the WAI guidelines can be constructed. I have only one suggestion to make, namely, that we should distinguish between screen readers, which essentially provide an auditory or braille representation of a visual display, and access agents (audio formatters and braille formatters) which attempt to generate an optimal rendering of the document in their respective media. If the term "screen reader" is applied to the latter type of software, it is likely to be very misleading, since the purpose of such a programme is not to give a representation of the visual appearance of the document but to treat braille or audio as what T.V. Raman refers to as a "first class medium" in itself. This is the conceptual basis which underlies the development of ACSS and the proposed work on braille style sheets. It ought to be reflected in the WAI guidelines as well by the use of appropriate terminology.
Received on Wednesday, 20 August 1997 19:52:10 UTC