Re: FIRST DRAFT: <N> Principles of Accessible Web Design

At 06:03 p.m. 06/11/98 +0200, Daniel Dardailler wrote:
>I finally took some time to read your paper, Kynn.

Thanks. :)

>I'd like to know more about the context of the paper. Is it something
>we plan to use on a wide distribution basis for the less technical
>web designer audience ?

It's nothing yet; it's something I wrote up quickly and I needed
response about if it's useful, and what needs fixing. :)  It's a
very rough draft, and thus could probably use a rewrite on every-
thing.

I was writing it with the target audience of "people who do web
authoring but don't know HTML 4.0 from CSS2 from a hole in the
ground" -- i.e., most Guild members :), and the people I work with
at Claremont Graduate University.

>  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-eo/1998AprJun/0010.html

>> INTRODUCTION
>I think the intro should start with a clear statement about what we
>want to achieve.

Good point. :)

>I'd drop III and IV from the TOC, to end up with something like 4
>principles.

Yeah, I agree, smaller is better. :)

>     I.  Create pages that conform to accepted standards.
>    II.  Know the difference between structure and presentation
>   III.  Provide alternative to non-textual content
>    IV.  Be wary of common pitfalls

I like this.  I always write a lot and distill it down, because it's
easier to cut out when editing -- for me, at least.

>and from there on, go into more details, as you do, but try to avoid
>duplication of what's in the GL guideline, as it changes on a regular
>basis and would make this document obsolete overnight.

Good point.  My goal is to reach behind the authoring guidelines
and reveal the core building blocks on which they're based; that
way someone who is knowledgable can form their own "internal
guidelines" in the same way the WAI groups write them -- by knowing
what the principles are, and applying them to specific cases.

Thanks for the feedback -- do you think this document is worth
working on and refining?  Or is this a backwards approach (well,
yes, it _is_ a backwards approach) that should be set aside for
now?

[Is this the appropriate list to discuss things like this, by the
way?]

--
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@hwg.org>
Vice President, Marketing and Outreach, HTML Writers Guild
  http://www.hwg.org
Education & Outreach working group member, Web Accessibility Initiative
  http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Received on Thursday, 11 June 1998 12:25:58 UTC