ARIA support in HTML & XML-based MLs: a call for consensus

aloha!

can we agree upon at least one thing -- that it is essential that ARIA 
be supported not only as the solution for today, but for tomorrow, as 
well?

ARIA needs to be fully integratable with HTML, but it is also essential 
to providing meaningful, semantically rich information to users of 
XML-based languages/dialogs such as MathML, DAISY (the internationally 
agreed-upon, XML derived, digital talking book spec - 
http://www.daisy.org/), 
and any specialized content markup (such as CellML, a means of expressing 
biological ontologies such as gene ontology, as well as validating the 
models against which standards of unit balance and biophysical constrains 
such as conservation of mass, charge, energy. etc. can be expressed - 
http://www.cellml.org/) not to mention Complex Document Formats (such as 
a digital talking book with SVG illustrations and embedded SMIL switches)

it isn't a trivial question which needs to be resolved, but a fundamental
one -- how can something that enhances a non-extensible language as well 
as providing meaningful, interactive access to an extensible language or 
custom dialect, be incorporated into an internationally recognized 
standard, such as those which the W3C produces under the name of 
"Technical Recommendations"?

personally, i don't care what delimiter is used, as long as it provides 
for the integration of ARIA support into both extensible and 
non-extensible markup languages -- if the colon isn't 
"politically/practically" correct, and the hyphen slash dash breaks 
known extensible languages/dialects, then why not the underscore?  it
actually isn't THAT unusual in the wild -- think "_DEFANGED.mp3"

so whatever and whomever decides what piece of punctuation works, please
remember that access to general knowledge and communication, as well as 
access to specialized knowledge domains (math, music, 
SVG-to-tactile-graphics on a thermal tablet, enhanced by SMIL integration
so that the SVG presentation could change over time to represent the 
original "peak" range of the american grey wolf, to that after 100 years 
of european contact with north america, to that in 1900, to that in 2000)
are equally accessible to all, no matter what the modality in which they 
are presented, and, foremost, that there is a standardized means of 
providing such access today AND tomorrow: ARIA

gregory.
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You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of
focus.                                           -- Mark Twain
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Gregory J. Rosmaita: oedipus@hicom.net
   Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/
          Oedipus' Online Complex: http://my.opera.com/oedipus
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Received on Wednesday, 17 October 2007 23:49:00 UTC