Re: An answer to the length issue for WCAG 2.0 Documents.

Good thread.

I agree with the premise that most people want a short place to start from, and then the ability to drill down to more information. There are some who want a full manual to read. The WCAG 2.0 materials were designed to meet multiple needs and preferences. (reminder that we did some user-centered design analysis and usability testing on this quite a while ago)

Indeed, at a past SXSW I said something like "don't ready WCAG 2.0, instead read Understanding WCAG 2.0" -- and now I say use "How to Meet WCAG 2.0: A customizable quick reference..."

However, WCAG 2.0 itself (the small normative document) *is needed* to provide a normative reference.

~Shawn


Anna.Zhuang@nokia.com wrote:
> 
>  Henny et al,
> 
> It is getting interesting.
> 
> The way normative text is separated from informative is leveraged
> (elsewhere) by following http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt 
> 
> Now I hear that the normative guidelines are hard to read and
> understanding those guidelines is a lot prettier document. Actually
> understanding doc copies guidelines and then exposes them. This makes it
> a complete document supported by techniques, Guidelines doc is a mere
> extensive table of content with reference links. I now feel that reading
> WCAG can well be replaced by reading the table of content of The
> "Understanding..." doc. So to me now this is not a question whether it
> is hard or easy to read WCAG, it is the question whether I need WCAG in
> its currrent form or not. Understanding doc should be the WCAG doc: well
> presented, well layed out, informative enough to read and containing all
> the requirements.
> 
> OK, don't want to infuriate anyone so stopping here.
> 
> Anna
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: w3c-wai-eo-request@w3.org 
>> [mailto:w3c-wai-eo-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of ext Henny Swan
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 11:20 AM
>> To: William Loughborough
>> Cc: EOWG
>> Subject: Re: An answer to the length issue for WCAG 2.0 Documents.
>>
>>
>> I have to agree with you here. The whole thing is not meant to 
>> be read end-to-end but is designed to be referred to. That in 
>> mind I think the Understanding document is excellent. It's the 
>> main document I refer to because invariably I'm researching 
>> error handling or headings and want everything in one easy 
>> page with the rest of the document at hand but out of the way.
>>
>> It also looks a lot prettier and has a better layout than 
>> other documents so it gets my vote all round.
>>
>> Great write up Wayne.
>>
>> Henny
>>
>> On 19 Nov 2008, at 08:13, William Loughborough wrote:
>>
>>> It's a bit like saying that the shop manual for an 
>> automobile is "hard 
>>> reading" or "too long."
>>>
>>> Hence Wayne's "The key misunderstanding here is that someone would 
>>> ever need to read either document from end to end."
>>>
>>> This is totally a non-issue disguised as something that matters and 
>>> Wayne's description of the process of *using* the documents rather 
>>> than actually *reading* them is spot on.
>>>
>>> Love.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:56 PM, <Anna.Zhuang@nokia.com> wrote:
>>>  those 3 docs will remain uneasy reading.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>> Henny Swan
>> Web Evangelist
>> Member of W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Education and 
>> Outreach Group www.opera.com
>>
>> Blog: www.iheni.com
>>
>> Stay up to date with the Web Standards Curriculum www.opera.com/wsc
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> 
> 

Received on Wednesday, 19 November 2008 17:06:49 UTC