JIS WG found some specific requirements of JIS X 8341-3 which are not seen in WCAG 2.0 WD. We'd like WCAG WG to consider the following issues.
JIS has the following requirements on the fonts.
5.6 a) was mapped to "HTML Technique: 5.15 Relative size [GL 4.2]" and 5.6 b) was also mapped to "CSS Technique: 8.1 Specifying fallback fonts [GL 1.3]" (See Issue 892).
However these reqiurements don't seem to be mapped to any SC of the latest WCAG 2.0 WD. There still be an action item on these issues. We'd like to include these font issues in WCAG 2.0 as they are important accessibility issues for older people and people who has visual impairments. A new SC could be added to Guideline 3.1 "Make text content readable and understandable.".
JIS has the following requirements on the words of foreign origin.
5.9 b) can be mapped to "3.1.3 A mechanism is available for identifying specific definitions of words used in an unusual or restricted way, including idioms and jargon. " in the latest WCAG 2.0 WD. However we'd like to make it more clearly mapped as this is an important accessibility issue for the older people, people with reading disabilities, and people with learning disabilities who are not familiar with this kind of words.
For example, we'll be able to add an example of "words of foreign origin" to the definition of "used in an unusual restricted way" in the key terms section of "Understanding WCAG 2.0" for 3.1.3. Or we'll also be able to change a part of SC text from "an usual or restricted way" to "an unusual, restricted, or unfamiliar way".
This is an action item for Gregg, Takayuki and Makoto to consider a SC on the pronunciation issue. JIS has the following requirements on the pronunciation.
In Japanese, there can be multiple ways of reading for a character in Kanji. Japanese screen readers can make a mistake in reading some Kanji characters as they can't judge the correct reading from the context. So it is really important for authors to provide the kana(Japanese phonetic syllabary characters) written next to specific Kanji characters to show the pronunciation, especially for proper nouns such as person's name, place name and so on.
This can be happened in English or any other languages. There must be some words of foreign origin which are not familiar to users. In such case, the author should provide users with how to pronounce the word.
We made a proposed SC for this issue. See "Proposed 3.1.7".
JIS has the following requirements on the spacing and linebreak within a word.
There was a CSS technique on Spacing letters and words. However there doesn't seem to be any SC which can be mapped to this technique.
This issue can be applied to any languages. For example, in English, if "welcome" has spaces within the words like "w e l c o m e", screen readers will read every single letter. It makes it difficult for users to understand the word. We'd like to add this issue to WCAG 2.0.
1.1.1 and 1.1.3 can be mapped to the following requirement in JIS.
JIS has an example which reads "For audio cue for warnings, provide the warning in text form as well" for this requirement. There can be a case that the authors would use the beep sounds for warning, alert or sound effects in order to convey the information. It should have a visual alternative for the sound so that people who has hearing impairments can also understand the information. We're wondering if WCAG 2.0 WD refers to this kind of situation.
$Date: 2006/1/4 $ Takayuki Watanabe and Makoto Ueki.