Re: ATAG2: freehand drawing term

Hi all,

The survey isn't coming to a consensus on the "freehand drawing" term...
http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35520/20100210/results#xq1

...so here are some more thoughts:

- the terms that include "drawing" and "pressure" seem too limiting, 
because we are talking about any continuously recorded data, which could 
also be pointer angle and speed.

- Wikipedia has an article on Input Devices 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_device) that includes some useful 
wording:
"input is discrete (e.g. keypresses [JR: or mouse clicks]) or continuous 
(e.g. a mouse's position, though digitized into a discrete quantity, is 
fast enough to be considered continuous)"

- Now just because an input device can record continuous input doesn't 
mean every task requires that. e.g., using a mouse to drag-and-drop is 
discrete because it is only the x,y coordinates of the end point that 
actually matter.

- And then the last complication is that we are talking about the nature 
of the underlying content being edited. So a continuous input device 
(mouse) can be used to provide continuous input (handwritten text) that 
is then interpreted as discrete input (electronic text).


....so here's another shot, focusing on the nature of the web content 
being edited (and also involving a glossary change, below):

A.3.1.1 Keyboard Access (Minimum): All functionality of the authoring 
tool is operable through a keyboard interface, except where editing web 
content properties that *encode continuous input*.
- Note 1: This exception relates to the nature of web content, not the 
usual input technique. For example, setting the path of a freehand curve 
is exempt, while setting the endpoints of a straight line is not.
- Note 2: This should not be interpreted as discouraging mouse input or 
other input methods in addition to the keyboard interface.

<existing>
GLOSSARY: web content
Information and sensory experience to be communicated to the end user by 
means of a user agent, including code or markup that defines the 
content's structure, presentation, and interactions. In ATAG 2.0, "web 
content" is primarily used to refer to the output that is produced by 
the authoring tool. "Web content" may include web applications, 
including those that act as web-based authoring tools. Accessible web 
content is web content that conforms to a particular level of WCAG 2.0 
(see Relationship to WCAG 2.0 section). Structured web content is web 
content that includes machine-readable internal structure (e.g., markup 
elements), as opposed to unstructured content, such as raster image 
formats or plain human language text.
</existing>
<NEW ADDITION>
Some web content properties can be said to *encode continuous input* 
because they incorporate frequent samples of the path, speed, pressure, 
angle, etc. of a mouse or stylus. For example, a "watercolor paint 
stroke" effect.
</NEW ADDITION>





> Hi all,
>
> Here's an issue that's been left hanging:
>
> For "A.3.1.1 Keyboard Access (Minimum): All functionality of the
> authoring tool is operable through a keyboard interface, except for
> freehand drawing@@ (Level A)"...
>
> ...we defined the term "freehand drawing" as:
> An authoring action in which content is created or modified on the basis
> of continuously recording data (e.g., the location, speed, pressure,
> angle) from a pointing device (e.g., mouse, stylus). Freehand drawing
> does not include other uses of pointing devices, such as setting
> endpoints, drag-and-drop or entering text via a handwriting recognition
> system. Freehand drawing also does not include setting the properties
> (e.g., color, line thickness) of freehand drawn content objects as a whole.
>
> ...but there was a feeling on the call that "freehand drawing" had a
> different commonsense meaning. I said I would suggest some replacement
> terms. How about:
>
> - freehand input
> - continuous freehand input
> - continuous pointing device input
>
> Thoughts? Other suggestions?
>
> Cheers,
> Jan
>

Received on Monday, 22 February 2010 18:20:23 UTC