Reference card: new version

Here is my attempt to compress the reference card down to a manageble size
while incorporating as many of the ideas that were contributed. It
includes an introduction, and a line about where to go for more
information. I also drew inspiration from Harvey's posting on universal
web design that arrived today. 

I have had to reorganize and reword more than I expected. My criterion for
rejecting a previous rendition was if I had to read it more than twice to
understand the point. This version is under 190 words, and it could be
shorter. However, because I have made so many changes, I decided to stop
here to get peoples' reactions. 

A point of departure in my version is the use of a title for each section. 
This is to draw the eye to important points while working in such a
confined space.  Thus you will note: "Hypertext links," "Backgrounds,"
etc. 

You can't cram much more on a business card. I originally marked it up as
Times Roman 6 point, but I had trouble reading it with my 20:20 vision. So
I cut and reformated until everything was in Times Roman 8 point. That's
the smallest size that my over-40 eyes could handle. A sans-serif font 
will be very difficult to read on this scale.

There are ten points. Maybe we could call them the "Ten HTML
Commandments,"  or something to that effect. (That's what Dena Shumila
called the set of guidelines we came up with in 1996.)

The content follows. A life-size mockup, in Word 97 format, is attached.

Send your comments and corrections directly to me, and I will try to 
incorporate them before Thursday's meeting.

Alan

--------------------------------

World Wide Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative

Hand-, eye-, and ear-free features to make your site accessible to people
with disabilities and individuals who have portable devices and slow
connections: 

Hypertext links 
Use descriptive hypertext links. Each link should make sense when read
alone or out of context. 

Photographs, images & animations 
Describe content or purpose within the <Alt="text"> attribute. Create text
alternatives.

Backgrounds 
Choose uncluttered backgrounds and contrasting text and background
colours. 

Imagemaps 
Many people cannot use a mouse. Duplicate imagemap hot spots as a list of
text anchors. Ensure that every link can be activated using keyboard
commands. 

Tables 
Prepare a text-only page that describes its content.

Graphs & charts 
Summarize content. Make the raw data available.

Frames 
Label each frame with <TITLE>, and include a simplified version of its
content within the <NOFRAMES> attribute. 

Audio 
Prepare audio descriptions, or link to a page that contains 
transcripts or descriptions. 

Page organization 
Use headings, lists and summaries to make pages easy to scan. 

Evaluate accessibility 
Try different browsers; switch off graphics, sounds and animations;
navigate via keyboard, without a mouse; use a monochrome monitor; use
automated analysis tools. 


See www.w3.org/WAI for the complete WAI Page Author Guidelines

Received on Tuesday, 6 October 1998 18:37:30 UTC