Re: Discussion of 11.4

There's a technical WCAG issue here regarding alternative pages.

WCAG states

>Conformance Level "A": all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied;
>               Conformance Level "Double-A": all Priority 1 and 2 
> checkpoints are satisfied;
>               Conformance Level "Triple-A": all Priority 1, 2, and 3 
> checkpoints are satisfied;


Now lets say there's a page that flunks Level A, but a correpsonding 
accessible page, a so-called "text only" page that passes triple A.  And 
lets say it's a case where there was just no other way to do it.  So 11.4 
properly applies.

If we read the conformance definitition literally the page still flunks 
level A, because not all checkpoints are satisfied. This is if you read 
WCAG very precisely,  e.g. like a lawyer, programmer, or systems 
engineer.  I believe the spirit of WCAG was to pass the page if there's an 
equivalent.  So there should be an extra clause like

"However, a page links to an accessible page per checkpoint 11.4, the 
conformance level of the former shall be the conformance level of that 
alternative page."

Len

P.S. Note that if you object to alternative pages altogether, that's not 
the issue here.  That would be an argument for throwing out 11.4.  I'm just 
saying that WCAG needs this extra statement to say literally what I believe 
was intended.  By the way, personally speaking, I think that WCAG 11.4

P.P.S.
I'm personally faced with applying ratings to some State pages so this is 
more than an academic issue to me.

Len


-------
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
Department of Electrical Engineering
Temple University
423 Ritter Annex, Philadelphia, PA 19122

kasday@acm.org
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday

(215) 204-2247 (voice)
(800) 750-7428 (TTY)

Received on Sunday, 30 January 2000 21:04:46 UTC