Re: Readings WAI-ARIA Suite Overview

Reading the overview [1], it occurs to me that this is a very technical  
subject that people will find hard to grasp. On the other hand, some of  
the accessibility problems are not so difficult. the document starts out  
on a positive note:

[quote]"Some techniques for using these technologies to create accessible  
content are provided... WAI-ARIA defines how to make more advanced  
features of dynamic content and rich Internet applications accessible to  
people with disabilities." [end quote]

But it doesn't mention the problem, which is that the technologies  
involved (Ajax, DHTML, Scripting) cause very real barriers. The solution  
is very complicated, but the barriers are fairly easy to understand in  
terms of effects on the user. For example, it's not difficult to grasp the  
idea that if sections of a page change periodically without reloading the  
page, a screen reader may not realise what has happened. Or that if a div  
behaves as a checkbox, non-visual users won't understand what they are  
supposed to do. It talks about solutions while it avoids mentioning the  
problems.

Although WAI-ARIA is something that hopefully will be implemented by  
browsers and tools, so ordinary users won't need to know about it ("Who  
WAI-ARIA is for"), in practice, to be able to lobby for it, ordinary users  
and policy makers will need to understand it. Perhaps a couple of simple  
examples of barriers from the user's point of view might help to get the  
concept across to a wider audience.

[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php

regards,

Alan



En Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:36:41 +0200, Shawn Henry <shawn@w3.org> escribió:

>
> EOWG Participants,
>
> At the 21 Sept EOWG teleconference, we will discuss suggestions for the  
> next revision of the WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference. Please review it and  
> think about how different people will want to use it in different  
> situations.
> * http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/
>
> As we discussed at last week's teleconference, EOWG has an opportunity  
> to look at WAI-ARIA documents from an education and outreach perspective  
> and provide suggestions prior to the next release of Public Working  
> Drafts. Please read the following in preparation for this week's  
> teleconference:
>
> 1. Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) Suite Overview
>    http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php
>
> 2. At least the Introduction sections of the previous Working Drafts:
> - WAI-ARIA Roadmap http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-roadmap/
> - WAI-ARIA Roles http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-role/
> - WAI-ARIA States and Properties http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-state/
>
> 3. ARIA Best Practices Guide (BPG) draft framework
> - Index page http://esw.w3.org/topic/PF/ARIA/BestPractices
> - Introduction http://esw.w3.org/topic/PF/ARIA/BestPractices/Introduction
>
> 4. FAQ on ARIA Relationship to HTML
> -  
> http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/ARIA:_Accessible_Rich_Internet_Applications/Relationship_to_HTML_FAQ
>
> We'll send an agenda tomorrow.
>
> Regards,
> ~Shawn & Judy
>
>



-- 
Alan Chuter
Accessibility Consultant
Technosite (Fundación ONCE)
achuter@technosite.es
www.technosite.es
Tel. +34 91 121 03 35
Skype: achuter1

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Received on Friday, 21 September 2007 08:03:17 UTC