AUWG Comments on HTML5

Hi all,

A few weeks back, we discussed some comments on HTML5 from the AUWG 
perspective. I have edited them for clarity (see below). On CG today I 
was given an action to send these on to the HTML5 comments list.

If anyone has objections or additions to this list, please let me know 
before or during our call on Monday.


(1) HTML5 says (in the section "Authoring tools and markup generators"):
"Authoring tools are exempt from the strict requirements of using
elements only for their specified purpose, but only to the extent that
authoring tools are not yet able to determine author intent."

AUWG Comment:
Suggest stating that authoring tools should help authors meet the strict
requirement (of using elements only for their specified purpose) by not
automatically misusing elements or encouraging the author to do so (e.g.
in documentation)


(2) HTML5 says (in the section "Authoring tools and markup generators"):
"Authoring tools are expected to come in two broad varieties: tools that
work from structure or semantic data, and tools that work on a
What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get media-specific editing basis (WYSIWYG). The
former is the preferred mechanism for tools that author HTML, since
the structure in the source information can be used to make informed
choices regarding which HTML elements and attributes are most appropriate."

AUWG Comment:
It seems subjective to prefer an editing mechanism. Perhaps this should
be clearly marked as "informative".


(3) HTML5 says (in the section "Authoring tools and markup generators"):
"However, WYSIWYG tools are legitimate. WYSIWYG tools should use
elements they know are appropriate, and should not use elements that
they do not know to be appropriate. This might in certain extreme cases
mean limiting the use of flow elements to just a few elements, like div,
b, i, and span and making liberal use of the style attribute."

AUWG Comment:
Suggest stating that WYSIWYG tools may need to make a special effort to
gather semantic information, rather than describing exceptions for
"extreme cases".


(3) HTML5 says (in "4.8.2.1.13 Guidance for markup generators [re: alt]")

AUWG Comment:
Suggest wording be synchronized with "ATAG 2.0 Guideline B.2.4".
Specifically:
B.2.4.3 Let user agents repair: After the end of an authoring session,
the authoring tool does not attempt to repair alternative content for
non-text content using text value that is equally available to user
agents (e.g., the filename is not used).




-- 
Jan Richards, M.Sc.
User Interface Design Lead
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
Faculty of Information
University of Toronto

   Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
   Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
   Phone: 416-946-7060
   Fax:   416-971-2896

Received on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 19:31:33 UTC