longdesc Issue 30 deserves to be resolved

Hi Paul and all,

>From today's Accessibility Task Force Minutes [1]:

> JB: Thank you also to Paul for the update on the longdesc issue.
>
> PC: Judy is referring to a thread open on the chair's list.
> ... If the TF has a preferred order that issues are processed in,
> information on how or why an issue should be prioritised would be
> helpful.

Is there anything that I should know about the longdesc thread on the
chair's list?

I drafted the longdesc Issue 30 Change Proposal almost one year ago [2].

Last May several people objected in the HTML Working Group Last Call
survey that longdesc Issue 30 was not resolved prior to Last Call and
that longdesc was not in the spec.

Because of these objections on May 25, 2011, in the "Responses to Last
Call survey objections" the Chairs promised to expedite the processing
of Issue 30 issue during Last Call [3]. This has not happened.

You had previously mentioned that the Chairs had estimated that they
would be finished reviewing proposals on December 11, 2011. [4] On
December 15 Maciej said he hoped the review of my change proposal
(which has been stabilized and ready since last May when the task
force endorsed it) would be out before the holiday break. [5]

I asked at the HTML Working Group Meeting today, what is the Chairs'
plan to move on ISSUE-30 longdesc? Is there a timeline?  [6] Sam said
that the Chairs are still drafting a review of my Change Proposal and
couldn't say when that will be ready.

So Paul, my response to your question regarding preferred order to
process issues is to please, please, expedite Issue 30 as promised.
Please move this important issue forward. It deserves due process. It
deserves to be resolved. It is an unnecessary atrocity on authors and
users with disabilities for longdesc not to be included in HTML5.

Please, no more delays, please complete your review of my proposal,
let's have the survey, and get longdesc back in the language.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Best Regards,
Laura

[1] http://www.w3.org/2012/01/19-html-a11y-minutes.html
[2] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/ChangeProposals/InstateLongdesc
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2011May/0347.html
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2011Nov/0227.html
[5] http://www.w3.org/2011/12/15-html-wg-minutes.html#item11
[6] http://www.w3.org/2012/01/19-html-wg-minutes.html#item09
--
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Thursday, 19 January 2012 20:18:06 UTC