addressing the shortcomings of existing tools in abstract (was Re: minor edits)

aloha, jutta!

in the abstract of the 10 december 1999 draft of ATAG [reference 1], the second
paragraph begins thus:

quote
There are tools (such as text editors) that allow motivated users to create
accessible Web content, or are accessible themselves to users with certain
disabilities, but that may not conform to this specification. The purpose of
this specification is to address the needs of the largest population possible,
so that there is more accessible content on the Web.
unquote

which you, in a recent post to the AU list [reference 2], suggested be changed
to:

quote
It should be noted that there are tools (such as text editors) that allow
motivated authors to create accessible Web content, and there are tools that
are accessible to users with certain disabilities, however, these tools may not
conform to this specification. This specification addresses the needs of the
largest population possible.
unquote

i think it would be clearer if the sentences were shorter:

quote
It should be noted that there are tools, such as text editors, that already
allow highly motivated authors to create accessible Web content by hand. There
are also tools whose interface is accessible to users with certain
disabilities, but which limit or preclude the author's ability to produce
accessible content.  It is, therefore, the purpose of this specification to
address the needs of the largest population possible, by addressing both the
accessibility of the output created by the tool and the accessibility of the
tool itself.
unquote

i'm not too pleased with the reuse of the word "address" in the last sentence,
but i (at least) believe that this is the thought we are attempting to express:

a) that there are tools which do allow the highly motivated user with
fore-knowledge of

1. the accessibility problems posed by certain authoring practices;
2. the accessibility enhancements built into specific markup languages; and
3. the syntax of the markup languages which he or she intends to use;

to create accessible content by hand, and 

b) that there are tools whose interface is accessible to authors with certain
disabilities, but which output invalid and/or inaccessible markup

and that the guidelines and checkpoints which follow are designed to bridge
this gap, in order to facilitate the creation of accessible content by the
widest possible pool of users -- especially those without such fore-knowledge
and/or those who themselves have a disability...

gregory

References
1. http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/PR-WAI-AUTOOLS-19991210
2. 
--------------------------------------------------------
He that lives on Hope, dies farting
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
   WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
        <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
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Received on Wednesday, 15 December 1999 18:28:21 UTC