proposal: retain tactile media group; add tactual to media types [ACTION-7]

tactile is defined as "capable of, allows for being touched"

tactual is defined as "arising from or due to touch"; 

this definition of "tactual" corresponds with my previous definition of 
tactile media, which -- in order to differentiate it from braille -- i 
defined as material perceived by the sense of touch which requires no 
prior knowledge in order to be correctly perceived; having researched the 
meaning of the terms "tactile" and "tactual", i have concluded that 
"tactual" is the term which best expresses the difference between tactual 
media (which is intended to be conveyed via touch, but which requires no 
previous knowledge and does not represent a natural language), and 
braille, which is a tactile representation of a specific natural language 
(as well as specific natural language instances if the braille device 
being used supports natural language switching on-the-fly); 

CONCLUSION:

"tactile" covers both braile and tactual media, as both convey 
information through the sense of touch; 

therefore, i am proposing that:

1) CSS retain the media group "tactile";
2) CSS add a new media type, "tactual", 

this, i hope, completes HTML Accessibility Task Force ACTION-7

gregory.
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CONSERVATIVE, n.  A statesman who is enamored of existing evils,
as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them 
with others.         -- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_
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             Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
  Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html
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Received on Monday, 25 January 2010 00:18:44 UTC