Re: Templates and use cases

Hi Detlev, 

To my mind there is true value in having evaluators having access to the templates.  

Lets say that your first move when evaluating is to quickly evaluate and repair the templates - correcting alt missing type issues, etc... and then having them put back into the live site.

By doing this simple move, when you come to run your automated tools over the site - instead of picking up ever page due to the recurring errors in templates you only pick up those pages which have other errors...

Hopefully making the whole process smarter and more efficient... 

Otherwise, I'd mirror what Elle said.  I think we need to work 'smart' - by utilising information that already exists and by drawing on the knowledge of the evaluation commissioners.  

It is important to recognise that we do not need to turn over every stone during an evaluation... Really, just enough to conclusively show if success criteria have been failed. 

I'd be super happy if the evaluation commissioner provided a full site map (in the sitemap.xml protocol), use cases for all major functions and empty templates for all page types - just by doing this they would save me so much time and effort...

Hope this helps 

Alistair 

On 19 Apr 2012, at 17:37, Elle wrote:

> Detlev:
> 
> I think, as you mentioned later in your email with use cases, that templates provide a good starting point. They are only part of the picture for an evaluator, but they represent an efficient way to start the evaluation process. Using templates and reporting on them as such allows an evaluator to identify common elements needing correction in a way that communicates well to the website owner.  It's how he or she already views the site in question. As you say, it's not at all a replacement for evaluating live content and its interaction within the template, but it reduces the redundancy of page-level testing.
> 
> When we remediate our websites, we look first for common elements, often templated elements. Then, we look on a page level basis. If, on the page level analysis, we see that an interaction needs to change because of the conflict with template and page components, we can decide whether to change the template or the page content itself.  That's a decision that's harder to make if we don't view these as separate items, I believe.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Elle
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Detlev Fischer <detlev.fischer@testkreis.de> wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> just two points that cam to mind after today's teleconference:
> 
> (1) Templates
> 
> The text now (in Step 2a)  talks about "The common web pages of the website and templates available to the evaluator"
> 
> For templates that just cover a part of the web page (e.g. portlets), some aspects of conformance depend on their place in the context of the overall page - think of 1.3.1 and 2.4.1 (heading levels), 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence, etc. I wonder what the evaluator will actually *do* with the templates provided by the commissioner - if they are empty or out of page context, a complete evaluation seems impossible or of doubtful value. But this may not be intended by the description - not sure. Many observations (potential fails) also result from interactions between template and content on a real page.
> 
> I am not against taking stock of templates per se, just not sure what added value that would bring and how they would be assessed outside a normal page context. Thoughts?
> 
> (2) Use cases
> 
> In cases where evaluations of web applications are commissioned by clients, checking the use cases provided is certainly a good starting point. It's just important to also go beyond documented use cases, especially regarding error handling and unexpected user actions, to capture violations.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Detlev Fischer
> testkreis - das Accessibility-Team von feld.wald.wiese
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> -- 
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