simulating output of transform tools

One of the questions we face is how to get feedback regarding what
transform tools might do, in advance of having the transform tools.  One
way would be to simply write, by hand, what the output of the transform
tool would look like.

I did this for a hypothetical transform tool that someone might use to
better access tables.  As described in the UA guildelines

http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-WAI-USERAGENT.html#Nav-tables

users need to travel by row or column, and need information about the
current cell.

The demo is at 

 http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/web_access/table_access/

It shows what the output of a transform tool might be.  Note that I simply
created the output by hand: there's no actual filter here.

Basically, it has two linearized versions of the table, one in column
order, and one in row order.  You start off in row order. Each cell in is a
link.  Activating the link announces the row and column headings and gives
you the option of continuing in row order or column order, resuming your
travels from the cell where you just were.  The menu also lets you start over.

The demo works best with Lynx.  It could be extended to give other features.

The point I'm trying to make here, aside from the possibility that the demo
shows a useful tool, is that we can simulate the outputs of tools.  We
could then get get feedback from users in various ways... either via
requests to email lists, or by working with people in a lab.

Please tell me what you think.  We can pursue this in the forthcoming
teleconference.

Len



-------
Leonard R. Kasday
Institute on Disabilities/UAP at Temple University, Philadelphia PA
email:     kasday@acm.org
telephone: (215} 204 2247

Received on Monday, 5 October 1998 13:48:18 UTC