ACTION-402: Re: WAI last call comments on CDF, WICD, WICD Full, WICD Mobile, WICD Core

Al, 

Please thank the WAI WG for these comments.  Responses below inline, 
marked with <CDFWG>. 

Thanks,
Kevin 

On behalf of the CDF WG 
If this does not satisfy your comments, please respond within 2 weeks. 



Al Gilman <Alfred.S.Gilman@IEEE.org> 
Sent by: public-cdf-request@w3.org 
01/27/2006 02:18 PM 


To
public-cdf@w3.org 
cc
wai-liaison@w3.org 
Subject
WAI last call comments on CDF, WICD, WICD Full, WICD Mobile, WICD  Core











<note
class="inTransmittal">

These comments have been collected and lightly reviewed within the
User Agent Working Group and the Protocols and Formats Working Group.

Where they are not clear or you feel you need to reject a comment, we
would welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues for the purposes
of clarification and mutual understanding.

Thanks,

Al
/chair, PFWG

</note>

CDF 1.0 review

Sounds like are requiring DOM 3 through the use of ReferencedDocument 
- Document.Write() is gone - yes?

Are you going to get the browser manufacturers to implement this as 
none of the support DOM 3 today? DOM 3 has accessibility features.

<CDFWG> The Compound Document by Reference Framework (CDRF) is not 
requiring all of DOM3 to 
be implemented, but instead specifies specific parts of DOM3 or DOM3 
compatible 
behavior that is required for CDRF profile conformance. 
<CDFWG> In order to be Compound Document by Reference profile conformant, 
(http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/Group/specs/CDR/wp1/cdf.xml#conformance) then: 



<CDFWG>        Profile Conformance 
 
  1.             Compound Document profiles which leverage the Compound 
Document 
                 Framework and which support scripting must have scripting 

                 interfaces that are compatible with the DOM Level 3 Core 
                 Specification. 
 
  2.             Compound Document profiles which leverage the Compound 
Document 
                 Framework and which support events and interactivity must 
have 
                 event interfaces and an event processing model that are 
compatible 
                 with the DOM Level 3 Events Specification. 
 
  3.             For each event construct within supported languages, 
                 the profile must define the event's namespace and local 
name, 
                 whether it supports the bubble phase, 
                 and whether it is cancellable, 
                 as well as the name of the DOM interface for its event 
structure 
                 (e.g., events.dom.w3c.org::UIEvent). 
 
  4.             Any events that are defined to be equivalent to a 
                 corresponding event from DOM3 Events must have compatible 

                 behavior, such as the phases supported, cancellability 
                 and propagation across parent/child Compound Document 
                 boundaries. For example, for a "click" event from 
                 language A to be equivalent to the DOM3 "click" event, 
                 it also must be cancellable since DOM3 "click" is 
cancellable. 
 
  5.             The profile must define how to map language features for 
                 event listeners, event handlers, and event targets into 
                 corresponding DOM3 Events facilities. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 

Section 2.2. You indicate that a child document may allow for event 
propogation up. You may want for selective propogation. Implementing 
Dynamic XHTML accessibility solutions usually involves placing a 
keyboard handler on the root document to capture all the keyboard 
commands and driving navigation. You would like to have this drive 
navigation of all child documents as well instead of having this in 
multiple interception points. The group should consider that 
DocumentEventPropagation be selective. You may not want all events to 
propoagate up. Your interface, below, indicates a boolean decision 
for all events:

interface DocumentEventPropagation {
attribute boolean propagate;
};

<CDFWG> Yes, event propogation has been changed to: 
http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/specs/CDR/wp-1/cdf.xhtml#event-propagation 

<CDFWG> 2.2.1 Event Propagation 

             Using the various methods and attributes described in 
[WINDOW],   
             [DOM3EVENTS] and [DOM3CORE] it is possible for web authors to 
attach an   
             event listener to a child document and then upon catching it  

             dispatching it in the parent document on the referencing 
element. The   
             following piece of script would create an event and dispatch 
it upon   
             the referencing element:             

                               var x = 
document.createEvent("CustomEvent"); 
                               x.initCustomEventNS("
http://example.org/test", "test", true, false, null); 
                               window.frameElement.dispatchEvent(x); 

<CDFWG> This suggested change has been made. 

How do you deal with tab sequencing? Each document may have a 
different tabbing mechanism such as XHTML 1.X using TABINDEX and 
XHTML 2.0 using nextFocus. 

<CDFWG> Tab sequencing is addressed extensively in: 
Latest working draft 
http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/specs/CDR/wp-1/wicd.xhtml#focus-navigation 
Dec192005 document you reviewed 
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/#focus-navigation 
These sections have not changed between these two versions. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 


What is the default language per embedded document? For example, what 
happens when you have a lang attribute in a block, specified in 
XHTML, set to Spanish, and within it you have an object tag 
referencing an embedded SVG document or some other document? XHTML 
2.0 requires a lang attribute on the document. It would be nice if we 
stressed consistency across other XML markups - or we require this on 
the object tag. 

<CDFWG>  We are making every effort to combine existing markup "as is".   
Adding an attribute to the object tag for language should be taken up with 
the working group 
responsible for that element. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

Section 2.3.1

Why do you refer to HTML4 in this spec. No HTML 4 implementation 
supports DOM 3. Also it is non-extensible which is problematic for 
adding accessibility semantics targeted for XML markup.This ius a 
step backward. It would seem that supporting an non-XML based infoset 
document format is a mistake. 

<CDFWG>  The CDFR is not requiring that only XML infoset based markups 
shall be used in defining in a compound document profile.  Therefore the 
CDRF will 
support compound document profiles constructed with non XML Infoset based 
markup.   
However, the Working Group has not defined a Core document or profiles 
that call for 
non XML infoset based markup, but allow the framework to support it should 
anyone want 
to define a profile composed of non XML infoset based markup.   

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.


2.1.4 SecurityException
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-CDR-20051219/#security-exception

Accessing parent or child documents through the DOM as described in 
sections
2.1.2 and 2.1.3 can be disabled for security reasons. In such cases user
agents should throw a SecurityException

<UAWG> User agents should inform the user that access has been blocked for
security reasons.
</UAWG> 

<CDFWG> Section 2.1.4 Security Exception has been removed. 
http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/specs/CDR/wp-1/cdf.xhtml#dom 

<CDFWG> This suggested change has been made. 

2.3 Link Activation
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-CDR-20051219/#link-activation
<snip>

Nested hyperlinks are more complicated. The following illustrates nested
hyperlinks. Suppose the parent document is XHTML as follows:

<!-- parent.html -->
<html:a href="LargeMap.html">
 <html:object type="image/svg+xml" data="child.svg"/>
</html:a>

And the child SVG document contains the following:

<!-- child.svg -->
<svg:a xlink:href="DetailedCountyMap.html">
 <svg:text>county map</svg:text>
</svg:a>

<snip>

The implication is that the behavior of nested hyperlinks depends on how 
the
hyperlink is activated. Here are some examples which illustrate common
possibilities:

* Suppose the user gives focus to an <html:a> within the parent XHTML
document above and then hits the "Enter" key to activate that link. In the
example above, the <html:a> element is the event target. This would cause
execution of the hyperlink to "LargeMap.html".

* Suppose the user gives focus to an <svg:a> within the child SVG document
and then hits the "Enter" key to activate that link. In the example above,
the <svg:a> element is the event target. This would cause execution of the
hyperlink to "DetailedCountyMap.html".

* Suppose the user uses a mouse or other pointer device to click on the 
work
"county map" in the above example. Because this pointing device event 
occurs
over geometry controlled by both the parent XHTML and child SVG documents,
and because the SVG document is the most deeply nested, then the target
element will be chosen according to the rules in the SVG specification. In
the example above, this will cause the <svg:text> element to be the event
target. The <svg:a> element will receive the event after bubbling from the
<svg:text> element, which will cause a hyperlink to
"DetailedCountyMap.html".

<UAWG>The above scenario provides some intriguing accessibility problems. 
At
each stage the user must be given a choice 1) activate the anchor, 2) 
enter
the nested container. The user agent must inform the user of the available
paths, so the user is able to give focus to the required element.

Given the first 2 bullets in the scenario, the user agent will display the
text "county map" with html anchor designation (blue and underlined,
assuming no style sheet). When the user gives focus to the anchor "county
map", the user agent should inform the user that a hyperlink may be
activated or a child container may be entered. The user now has the option
of viewing "LargeMap.htm" or entering the "child.svg" container. After
entering the "child.svg" container can the user be informed that an
additional anchor (svg:a) is available to be given focus and execution to
display "DetailedCountyMap.htm" (the second bullet). At any point in the
tree the user (with information available from the user agent) should be
able to orient themselves (determine where they are) within the 
document(s)
tree (parent document - html:a - child.svg - svg:a) and navigate back up 
or
down the tree.

The 3rd bullet "* Suppose the user uses a mouse or other pointer device to
click on the work "county map" in the above example. Because this pointing
device event occurs over geometry controlled by both the parent XHTML and
child SVG documents, and because the SVG document is the most deeply 
nested,
then the target element will be chosen according to the rules in the SVG
specification. In the example above, this will cause the <svg:text> 
element
to be the event target. The <svg:a> element will receive the event after
bubbling from the <svg:text> element, which will cause a hyperlink to
"DetailedCountyMap.html".

Question: How will a pointing device user able to activate the html:a
"LargeMap.html"? or Where in the geometry does one point to activate the
html:a "LargeMap.html"?  How is the user agent to inform the user that two
(or possibly more) paths are available from a single (visually apparent)
anchor?
</UAWG> 

<CDFWG> The hyperlink/link activiation section has undergone a significant 
amount 
of change that I beleive addresses some of your comments.  However, some 
of the 
comments should to be directed at the working groups that own the markup 
you 
are citing.  Please review the new text below and resubmit new comments if 
CDF related 
issues have not been addressed/clarified. 

<CDFWG> http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/specs/CDR/wp-1/wicd.xhtml#hyperlinking 

<CDFWG> 5 Hyperlinking 

       If it is possible to link from XHTML to Format-X, it should also 
       be possible to link from any other supported format to Format-X. 
 
       WICD compliant agents should support seamless hyperlinking between 
       any of the supported formats. 

       If linking from XHTML to Format-X will invoke content type specific 

       treatment on arrival, then linking from any Scalable Child Element 
       to Format-X should result in the same treatment. 
       (Examples for this are special content handlers for RSS, Java, 
       content download.) 
 
       Any content type supported by the user agent, when linked-to 
originating from 
       XHTML, should also be supported by linking-to originating from any 
other 
       supported format. 

       If a WICD compliant agent supports linking from XHTML to URI 
schemes 
       other than http:// (for examples wtai:// and pcast://), then these 
URI 
       schemes should also be supported, when linked-to from any other 
       supported format. 
 
       All URI schemes, supported for hyperlinking and the related 
functionality, 
       should be supported, independent of the content format. 

<CDFWG> This section was rewritten and should be reviewed again. 

Web Integration Compound Documents (WICD Core) review

Commenting on http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/


3.2.1 Why would you not allow for a link to be activate on a static 
rendering. Image maps allow for links on static elements? They in 
themselves are not dynamic but they tell the browser where to go. 
When you traverse the content within an static svg document, will 
there still be a DOM for the SVG document? Is the DOM gone such that 
you cannot walk the children. You are not explicit here. Remember, 
script writers may want to walk it. The difference is that the DOM 
elements in the SVG will have handlers that do not work.

Whether static or frozen, why would you not want the links to be 
activatable. AT vendors would walk the DOM and want to activate the 
link. Is the memory reclamation for links that valuable. If you are 
going to do this then more work to address state changes of frozen 
and static so that AT vendors can monitor when links become active or 
disabled.

<CDFWG> The basic idea is to have a set of
icons, or thumbnails, of different SVG documents, and those icons are
rendered statically - i.e., no animations (or maybe there are), but no
activatable links.  This means that the amount of resources
required to render these icons is significantly reduced as they don't
need to be live - an image can be rendered once and then just displayed.
These SVG icons would likely be rendered inside some HTML content that
linked to some sort of larger representation of the content - either the
standalone SVG document or the SVG document within some XHTML, where the
SVG content is rendered in its full glory - animations, interactions,
links, etc.  

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 


3.2.2 Scalable Background Image

This document should state that background images MUST not convey any 
useful information. In other words they must only be eye candy. They 
must always be fixed. Low vision users, in particular seniors, will 
want to remove these images as they will not be able to read text in 
a document. Others will want to programatically disable the animation.


<CDFWG> The use case here is something like a background image of the 
word "draft" on every page of a draft document.  In this use case the 
background image does convey useful information. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.


3.2.3 Scalable Overlay Objects (Sprites)

This is a potential accessibility problem. If the Overlay is an SVG 
document, the user needs to be able to navigate it. How, through the 
DOM does a scripting application or user agent travers the overlay 
and come back? What semantics in the DOM indicate an overlay or a 
real active document?

<CDFWG> The WICD profiles need to support transparent overlay objects 
that are non navigable IAW HTML, CSS, and SVG.  Issues with this 
functionality should be addressed with one of those WGs.   

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.


3.3.3 Transparency

This is potentially an accessibility problem. If something is an 
overlay it must be possible to give something in the overlay focus. 
For example, you could have an xhtml menu and then launch a sub menu 
in SVG. Now, when it comes to these issues it tells me you also need 
to accomodate the work we are doing in WAI PF to address 
accessibility for roles, properties, and states. Associations need to 
be made between related objects once you put them outside the 
confines of a boxed area on the page. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 

6 Focus Support

This is inadequate.

- How does one navigate in and out of a child document when TABINDEX 
is applied in the XHTML root and the embedded object is SVG? How does 
this impact the tab sequence when the embedded document uses 
something other than TABINDEX?
- When someone is tabbing in a document, what is the navigation 
scheme for going into and out of an embedded document. Do you tab 
into the document, tab out, what? Does the user agent have to provide 
additional keys.

There is more here than just being able to give an object focus. You 
need to decide for the author how navigation will work in and out of 
a compound document. This is a problem today for plug-ins where often 
there is no mechanism to use the keyboard to step into a plug-in and 
out. This document adds an additional level of extraction because 
documents are linked together in that you can navigate up to and into 
referenced DOMs. If this is the case, then how is navigation 
addressed consistently. 

<CDFWG>  The CDF WG came to resoulution, that no single, binding method 
for 
navigation can be mandated by the WICD specification. Implementors 
were pointing out, that navigation is highly device specific and that 
it cannot be specified in generic ways. This is why the WICD 
specification describes focus navigation only in an informative section.

Two things to note about the flat / two-dimensional focus navigation 
method:
- mainly, it describes a role model behavior for standard handsets 
with 4-way joystick navigation
- it is not based on TABINDEX

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

6.1 Focusable Child Elements

Comments here are not CDF issues but the inconsistency in document 
focus support. The focusable property, while available in SVG, is 
incosistent with XHTML. I would like to see the addition of TABINDEX, 
as implemented in IE, addressed for DIVs and SPANs. Note: this could 
be an added module.

This means that there needs to be a capabiltiy for any renderable 
element in the compound document focusable. The referencing alone is 
not a valid reason. In the Dynamic Web Access work 
(www.w3.org/wai/pf/adaptable) we can make DIVS and SPANS be focusable 
but we do this by placing a TABINDEX on these. TABINDEX can have a 
value of 0 (focusable but in document order) or -1 (focusable but 
never in the tab order). This is consistent with IE and Firefox.

Note: Progrmatically speaking, an XHTML anchor element has no 
property I am aware of that says it has an inherent "focusable" 
property. What happens with MathML? 

<CDFWG> We will replace the sentence

"Which elements qualify as focusable elements must be defined by this
specification or by the profiles that are built upon this specification."

       with the text

"The language specifications that are used with this framework should
define what elements are focusable."

       In addition, we will include the following informative note
right after the previous sentence

"The current XHTML specifications do not clearly define what elements
are focusable. It is common industry
practice that all elements, which have tabindex attribute are focusable,
e.g., a, input, select, textarea, object, button, area."

<CDFWG> This change was accepted and implemented as above.

6.2 Focus Event triggered Child Element Animations

In our new DHTML spec you do not need to use anchors - you may also 
use divs and spans:

<div TABINDEX= "-1">
 <object type="image/svg+xml" data="foo1.svg">
  <param name="animation" value="onfocusevent" /> 
</object>
</div>

It would be good to pull this in. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

6.3.1 Two Dimensional Focus Navigation (Flat, Graphical, Joystick)

Accessibility requires logical navigation. You need solid rules for 
determining navigation. Viscinity navigation seems silly and in fact 
it looks like you skip elements that should be traversable. Although 
this section is informative, what if I have a declarative tabindex 
solution - would this take precedence?

To point out applicable parts of your this section:
The focus navigation algorithm consists of three phases: finding 
candidates for focus movements, calculating and adjusting movement 
based on a distance function, and moving the current focus point with 
possibly changing focusable element.

- Navigation should be logical determined by document structure, or 
specified by the author
- Requiring the user to follow navigation to all elements in a series 
without a consistent mechanism to compartmetalize and skip sections 
(like menus in a GUI) is a usability problem.

This viscinity navigation approach should go away over time. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

6.3.2 One Dimensional Focus Navigation (Linear, Focus Ring, Tab)

This is frought with usability problems. New DHTML work will allow 
you to skip to content without of semantic interest without tabbing 
through every element. (DHTML work). XHTML can skip this standard 
navigation by using Keyboard handlers and JavaScript. Got to this 
URL: 
<http://www.mozilla.org/access/dhtml/spreadsheet
>http://www.mozilla.org/access/dhtml/spreadsheet

This is very stressful for people with mobility impairements and 
people who are blind. The user is being made to traverse all elements 
whether needed or not. Although this section is informative, what if 
I have a declarative tabindex solution - would this take precedence. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

7.1 System Fonts

System fonts must be supported by the operating system such that when 
their sizes are changed by the user they are reflected on the 
document. This impacts Font Sharing - I believe but that is not clear.

This is not a CDF issue but it is important that this be stated. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 

9.2.1 Interaction with the 'render' param

User agents must allow others to change the rendering speed. High 
rendering rates (flashing) can cause seizures for people with 
epilepsy. 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WCAG20-20051123/guidelines.html#seizure
>http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WCAG20-20051123/guidelines.html#seizure

CDF should require the user agent who is implementing this to 
configure the rate of animation. 

<CDFWG>  Since WICD Core uses SVG and SMIL Timing and Synchtonization 
module 
to control animation rendering, this comment should be redirected to 
those working groups. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

9.3 Play Animations while Document is loading

There is a problem when network latency and bit-heavy sub-objects 
cause the onLoad event
to fire after the user has started to interact with widgets in the page.

http://hades.mn.aptest.com/cgi-bin/xhtml2-issues/HyperAttrs?id=7792

PFWG would like to confirm that this is a serious and common problem.

The current suggested remedy from PFWG to the HTML WG is that

<quote
cite="http://www.w3.org/2006/01/25-pf-irc#T14-43-18 ">

an onload script handler attempting to set focus after focus has
already been set should cause the user agent to generate an exception
to the script being executed and not move focus.

</quote>
Please continue to track this issue to its resolution. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 


1.1                 Scope - 
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/#scope
In the description of the profiles the following items are listed:
1 Content author/provider has exact control of the presentation, including
fonts, layout, color, etc.
2 Layout adaptation: layout can be based upon device characteristics -
screen size, color depth, resolution, orientation.
3 Presentation can be customized to reflect a brand or user's personality.
<uawg> first bullet: this can be overridden by the user through system
settings, browser controls, and user css overrides. Correct? 
<CDFWG> yes
Second bullet: this includes user system settings. Correct? 
<CDFWG> yes
Third bullet: would like to add ?and needs? after ?personality? 
<CDFWG> This suggested change has been made.
</uawg>

3. Scalable Child Elements
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/#scalable-child-formats
<uawg>
We agree with the requirements for functions user agents must support.
On reading this section, we hoped to find something about the user being
able to scale the destination box.
For example: a user has default font size set to 18 points. An svg element
with fixed size (100x100) is referenced in a document. The default font 
size
causes the information to expand behind the bounding edge of the svg
element. The user must now focus on the svg and scroll within the svg.
</uawg> 

<CDFWG> The CDF WG suggests this issue be taken up with the HTML group 
that owns the <obj> element. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 

6.1 Focusable Child Elements
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/#focus-management
<uawg> We agree with the requirements user agents.

?Child-specific functionality should be restricted to preserve the 
author's
intent. Should element specific functionality be desired, the element must
advertise itself as being focusable or implicitly made focusable by a user
agent.?

There seems to be a conflict here. First you say child-specific
functionality should be restricted. Then, you say ?should functionality be
desired, the element must advertise itself as being focusable or 
implicitly
made focusable by a user agent.? By default the user agent should make all
child elements focusable, so when the user desires specific functionality 
it
is available. From an accessibility perspective, while the user agent 
should
respect the author?s intent, the user should be able to override that
intent.
</uawg> 

<CDFWG> The CDF WG does not agree with the rule that "By default the user 
agent should make all child elements focusable". Instead, all non- 
interactive child elements (e.g. SVG elements) should be treated like 
jpg, gif or png child elements are treated today. Only interactive 
child elements (and those with embedded links, etc.) may require 
focus. Thus, it is the child element, that must advertise itself as 
being focusable.

6.3.2 One Dimensional Focus Navigation (Linear, Focus Ring, Tab)
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-WICD-20051219/#focus-nav-one-dim-linear

<snip>
XHTML and SVG have methods for linear one dimensional focus traversal. 
XHTML
provides a default traversal order, and allows it to be changed with the 
use
of tabindex attribute within one XHTML document. SVG's provides the
focusNext and focusPrev elements which may be used to provide similar
functionality within an SVG document. However, neither of these methods 
can
be used when XHTML and SVG are combined. Therefore in the case of a WICD
document by reference, combining XHTML with SVG, some alternate form of
navigation is required.

<uawg> This is indeed a problem. Perhaps, in a ?WICD document by 
reference,
combining XHTML with SVG?, the user agent should default to 
one-dimensional
focus transversal based on source code order.

Tabindex and focusNext/focusPrev each have inherent accessibility 
problems,
mostly confusing the user as to the next/previous element that will 
receive
focus. Tabindex may take the user on an author defined path through
focusable content and then through the remainder of the focusable content
that was not part of the author defined path. The user can traverse this 
in
reverse order also, so in this respect it is consistent.
focusNext/focusPrev allows the author to define 2 distinct paths, separate
from the source code order. For example, the content has 6 focusable
elements. Each can have a unique focusNext and a unique focusPrev. In the
list below the first element is the focusable element in source code 
order,
the second item preceded with an ?n? designates the focusNext order, the
third item preceded with a ?p? designates the focusPrev order

1 ? n2 p6
2                 ? n4 p3
3                 ? n1 p5
4                 ? n3 p2
5                 ? n6 p1
6                 ? n5 p4

so following the source path the user would proceed  1-2-3-4-5-6
if the author set focusNext, starting at element 1, the path would be
1-2-4-3-1 and loop from there.
If author set focusPrev, starting at element 1, the path would be
1-6-4-2-3-5-1.

</uawg>

<CDFWG>  See response to 6.1 Focusable Child Elements above changes.

WICD Full 1.0 review

So, why does full only support XHTML 1.1 when your document specifies 
the use of XHTML 2 or other markups? Is it because the browser does 
not support XHTML 2? 

<CDFWG>  The framework and core documents do not reference a specific 
version 
of XHTML, it is the purpose of the profile document to reference the 
specific versions of the markups being combined. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment.

What is most concerning is these specs. address the use of ECMAScript 
whose implementation on HTML or XHTML is frought with accessibility 
problems due to gaps in HTML. We cannot afford to see this repeated. 

<CDFWG> Accessibility issues with ECMAScript should be addressed with 
the responsible working group for ECMAScript. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 

This specification misses picking up critical XHTML accessibility 
extensions found in XHTML 2 for the role attribute. This WAI PF 
working group is also developing (add-ons to XHTML 1.1) to address 
dynamic web accessibility (using JavaScript) and they are not being 
included here or in the roadmap. This is a big omission. Our changes 
can be added onto XHTML 2 so we would like these to be considered for 
adding on - otherwise you end up with another scripting accessibility 
problem. I would like to see these XHTML 1.1 extensions be 
incorporated into these specifications or have a clear migration path 
to incorporate them: 
<http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/Group/roadmap.html
>http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/Group/roadmap.html.

The following highlights our specificationss and our roadmap 
pertaining to Dynamic Web Access.


Dynamic Web Content Accessibility Work effort:

The working group has a focused effort to fix the accessibility of 
Rich Internet web Applications (RIAs). The inaccessibility of these 
applications has often been categorized as "JavaScript Accessibility 
Problem." These applications make use of script to re-purpose 
existing markup to create new application widgets not defined by the 
markup. The accessibility of today's markup, such as XHTML and HTML, 
depends on the mixture of content and presentation. The accessibility 
problem stems from the markup not providing the capability for the 
page author to provide additional accessibility Meta data which can 
be mapped by the browser to platform accessibility APIs when 
re-purposing occurs. The problem surfaces in many other circumstances 
ranging from when HTML uses the <table> element for layout to the SVG 
usage of primitive drawing markup to create complex graphics that 
imply richer semantics. Solving the problem involves the use of 
cross-cutting technologies whose principles may be used for 
accessibility reform across many industry content renderable markups. 
Finally, these specifications are intended to support XHTML markup 
rendered in today's desktop browsers. Three W3C WAI PF working drafts 
involved are described here:


<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/GUI/>Role Taxonomy for Accessible Adaptable 
Applications

This specification defines an RDF taxonomy of roles which describe 
custom GUI widgets and document structure which may be used to 
support platform accessibility APIs. Roles encapsulate semantic 
information which may be use to help: user agents support assistive 
technologies; authoring tools enforce accessibility, and assistive 
technologies discover new custom objects and how to interoperate with 
them.
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/adaptable/>States and Properties Module

This specification defines attributes that provide XML languages with 
the ability to add extra information about the behavior of an 
element. States and Adaptable Properties are mapped to accessibility 
frameworks (such as a screen reader) that use this information to 
provide alternative access solutions. Similarly state and author 
properties can be used to dynamically change the rendering of content 
using different style sheet properties. The result is to provide an 
interoperable way for associating behaviors with document-level 
markup. Additionally, this specification includes markup to fix 
keyboard focus problems with today's XHTML 1.X markup.
How the fit into our roadmap:

<http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/roadmap/>Dynamic Accessible Web Content Roadmap

This roadmap that describes the problem, what W3C specifications will 
be used to correct the problem, and the timeline for the new 
specifications.

Additionally, this specification does not pick up the standard role 
attributes delininiating semantic sections of a document: 
<http://hades.mn.aptest.com/htmlwg/xhtml-m12n-2/mod-role.html#s_rolemodule
>http://hades.mn.aptest.com/htmlwg/xhtml-m12n-2/mod-role.html#s_rolemodule

<CDFWG> Accessibility issues with XHTML/HTML should be addressed with 
the responsible working group for XHTML/HTML. 

<CDFWG> No change was made based on this comment. 


WICD Mobile 1.0 review

This calls out for script support and XHTML Basic. XHTML basic does 
not support the script and noscript elements. Are you using 
ECMAScript to generate the entire page? This is confusing.

The following is from XHTML Basic section 1.3.2. Script and Events 
(of XHTML Basic)

The script and noscript elements are not supported. Usually small 
devices have limited memory and CPU power. Execution of script 
programs may not be supported. Contents should be readable even if 
scripts are not executed.

Event handler attributes used to invoke script programs are not 
supported. Events are device dependent. An incoming-call event is 
unlikely to happen in a television. A generic event handling 
mechanism would be more appropriate than hardwiring the event names 
in the document type definition.

<CDFWG>  We are asking the HTML WG to include it. 
<CDFWG>  This change has been accepted.

Rich Schwerdtfeger
Distinguished Engineer, SWG Accessibility Architect/Strategist
Emerging Technologies
Chair, IBM Accessibility Architecture Review Board
blog: 
<http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/dw_blog.jspa?blog=441
>http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/dw_blog.jspa?blog=441
schwer@us.ibm.com, Phone: 512-838-4593,T/L: 678-4593, mobile: 512-876-9689

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.", 
Frost