[HDP] principle "Universal Access"

while i strongly agree in theory with "universal access" i am concerned 
about scope creep into this principle; not everything in the document 
source need be exposed to the user -- a TABLE summary is redundant for 
anyone looking at the table and automatically associating individual data 
cells with their headings, so there is no need for exposition of a 
summary, unless the user expressly requests it, in which case, it can be 
used as rendered explanatory text; universal access should mean that 
HTML5 provides strong enough mechanisms that support the concept of the 
semantic web, explicit meta-data bindings (both embedded and external), 
and markup flexible enough to be reused or reformatted/re-presented to 
the user in a form which is useable; in the end, the user must be the 
focus of HTML5, not solely authors, authoring tool developers, or user 
agent developers, although i do support strong conformance criteria for 
authoring tool and user agent conformance in the HTML5 draft;

i would also strongly support verbiage to the effect that:

"The HTML WG is committed to defining and providing features to make the 
web more accessible, universal, and inclusive. Access by everyone -- 
regardless of ability or experience -- is an essential component of 
universal access. The HTML5 WG is commited to retain features that 
provide access to all users, unless alternate/equivalent or superior 
mechanisms are provided in their place. The HTML WG's deliverables will 
satisfy the accessibility requirements which led Tim Berners-Lee to 
initiate the Web Accessibility Initiative as a W3C activity. To ensure 
that accessibility requirements are addressed and improved, the HTML WG 
will work closely with the WAI, and adhere to the Technical 
Recommendations which the WAI has produced."

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Whether or not you write well, write bravely.
                                 -- Bill Stout
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Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/
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Received on Thursday, 23 August 2007 23:41:26 UTC