Fwd: WCAG2ICT

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Neil Soiffer <NeilS@dessci.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Subject: WCAG2ICT
To: public-comments-wcag20@w3.org


I have a lot of trouble trying understand how this document helps anyone.
On the one hand, the document refers to WCAG "programmatically determined"
repeatedly, and this doesn't make sense in many closed systems such as ATMs
or Kiosks.

On the other hand, it lacks details to help me as a developer figure out
what I need to do.  E.g., my personal focus is math.  A question that often
comes up is "what is required for math accessibility?"  A search for the
term math comes up empty as does a similar search of  WCAG 2.0 (not good).
Having spent a good deal of time reading the WCAG guidelines, I know that
math is covered under 1.1.1 (text alternatives) or 1.3.1 (information,
structure, and relationships).  So how to meet 1.1.1 in a non-web
environment?  WCAG2ICT says to provide a text alternative.  Similarly, for
1.3.1, it says the structure should be "programmatically determined or are
available in text".  But these don't make sense in many situations away
from a PC such as a kiosk in a museum. The focus should be on providing an
alternative presentation such as speech or braille, not on the actual
underlying content.

The bottom line is that it seems that the document is just lazy:  it
doesn't do the work needed to understanding non-web context and simply
parrots WCAG. It leaves it up to the reader to try and figure out if WCAG
makes sense for the particular technology or not and how to adopt WCAG to
the appropriate situations... but isn't the purpose of this document to
inform the reader about how WCAG applies to their non-web situation?

Sincerely,

Neil Soiffer
Senior Scientist
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~