Re: [User Context] alternate taxonomy keys (GPII, Schema.org, etc.) could be implemented as custom media features

Rich Schwerdtfeger

"Tab Atkins Jr." <jackalmage@gmail.com> wrote on 10/31/2014 11:12:10 AM:

> From: "Tab Atkins Jr." <jackalmage@gmail.com>
> To: "White, Jason J" <jjwhite@ets.org>
> Cc: James Craig <jcraig@apple.com>, Indie UI <public-indie-
> ui@w3.org>, John Foliot <john@foliot.ca>
> Date: 10/31/2014 11:13 AM
> Subject: Re: [User Context] alternate taxonomy keys (GPII,
> Schema.org, etc.)  could be implemented as custom media features
>
> On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 8:35 AM, White, Jason J <jjwhite@ets.org> wrote:
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: Tab Atkins Jr. [mailto:jackalmage@gmail.com]
> >>
> >>CSS.customMedia.set("--gpii-prefers-transcript", true);
> >>
> >>Using the script-based API, you can also produce custom MQs with
keyword
> >>or number values.
> >>
> >
> > Excellent. Is there a standard mechanism available by which an
> application running under the host operating system could set this
> up to be run globally - for every HTML document loaded by the user
> agent, or selectively, for sites approved by the user?
> Unfortunately, I suspect it would have to be written separately for
> each user agent.
>
> For this purpose, user stylesheets will do fine, except that they
> aren't supported by Chrome.  Browser extensions can also handle this,
> such as Stylish for Firefox or Chrome.
>
It is very hard to convince customers to want to install browser extension.

Like browser support for ActiveX plugins or Java applets it is a support
issue for IT providers.

For example, a bank dislikes having to manage the communication with
customers on how to install plug-ins, etc. They have dealt with it but
banks find it frustrating to have to support Acrobat readers in browsers.
Imagine aging people having to install a browser extension and having to
deal with the support issue.

It would be best to not have to require a browser extension.

> > Note that user style sheets are only a partial solution: they
> cannot be used to supply keys that take numeric or keyword values,
> as noted already in this discussion.
>
> If extensions are acceptable, they can run JS in the page's context,
> and utilize the scripting API to provide more complex values.
>
> ~TJ
>