ERT Feedback from Michael Cooper

Here's a list of Techniques that I wanted to comment about. In some case there wasn't an existing Technique so I directed my comments instead to the Checkpoint.

Technique 1.1.A - Check images ALT text
I come under the null ALT text ("") is allowed camp, to comment out extraneous spacer images, I agree "" or "<whitespace>" should be not allowed when image is the sole content of a link.
Technique 1.1.B - Check images for LONGDESC and descriptive link
Bobby's implementation: whether a description is needed is an ask if we don't find a LONGDESC, so we do that. We only ask for D-link for images that do have a LONGDESC so we don't end up asking for descriptions twice, once as a LONGDESC and once as a D-link. We might want to add a list of exceptions such as icons, logos, etc., like we do for ALT text.
Technique 1.1.F - Check objects for alternative representation
Valid alternate representation can also be another OBJECT provided at the base of the hierarchy there is text (or something with alt text); this should include any element that contains text such as a table.
Technique 1.1.G - Check frames for an associated LONGDESC file
Add IFRAME.
Technique 1.1.I - Check if audio files have an associated text transcript
We should also check EMBED and OBJECT for audio types (from sound extension as source or a TYPE attribute); should also ask about APPLET, EMBED, OBJECT, SCRIPT which may contain sounds we don't know about.
Technique 1.1.J - Check SCRIPT element for an associated NOSCRIPT element
Check for just one NOSCRIPT on the page in which there is a SCRIPT: NOSCRIPT can't logically follow a script in the HEAD, and may be better placed elsewhere than the script which may be in an arbitrary location.
Technique 1.2.A - Prompt user for text links if ISMAP used
Prompt for text links if ISMAP used only if USEMAP (with valid, e.g., found, MAP element as target) also not found.
Checkpoint 1.4 - For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation
New Technique: check SMIL files for synchronized media.
Technique 2.1.A - User Notification for color use
Also need to trigger if we detect any HTML or CSS color settings
Technique 2.2.A - Test the color attributes of the BODY element for visibility
Updated list of what HTML color attributes to check: For HTML color definitions, element receives color set by closest ancestor, contrast should be tested with BGCOLOR of nearest ancestor
Checkpoint 2.2 - Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen
New technique: check style sheet colors and cascade down to determine color of current element
Checkpoint 2.2 - Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen
New Technique: if any one of the five BODY color elements are set, require that all be set, so the settings don't interact unfortunately with a user's custom defaults.
Technique 3.2.A - Check document for public text identifier
Public text identifier should be one of the HTML or XHTML identifiers. If not, and does not otherwise appear to be HTML, refuse to evaluate document.
Technique 3.3.A Check document for use of style sheets. Notify user if they are not used.
Also check for <LINK REL="stylesheet"...>, we only need that or the STYLE element, not both.
Technique 3.4.A Check STYLE attributes for relative or absolute units.
For any HTML element defined to take a %LENGTH, %PIXELS, %MULTILENGTH, or %MULTILENGTHS, a validated value should either end with "%" or begin with "+" or "-". Note: the title above was copied from the Table of Contents but is different from the title in the Technique, which is what I based this on.
Checkpoint 3.4 - Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values
New Technique: for CSS elements defined to take a length value, value must end with "%", "em", or "ex".
Technique 3.5.A - Check document for header nesting
I'm inclined to scrap the first two points in the evaluation, as they don't seem to be relevant to navigability/organization of the document and common usage would trigger this on almost every page.
Checkpoint 3.6 - Mark up lists and list items properly
New Technique: trigger on LI elements not in a list container (OL|UL|DIR|MENU), or DT|DD elements not in a DL container; likewise, those containers must have one or more of their children.
Technique 5.1.B - Determine the purpose of the table
This should be the first technique, needs to be done before we can do any more tests on tables.
Technique 6.1.A - User notification of style sheet use.
Also presence of STYLE element. In suggested language, we need to acknowledge that Checkpoint 6.1 and Checkpoint 3.3 are mutually exclusive: one or the other will always be triggered.
Technique 6.2.A - Check the FRAME source to ensure it is an HTML document
Add IFRAME, also reverse evaluation: trigger if source is not an HTML doc. Difficult to know what may be a valid HTML document without retrieving, for Bobby our current list of file extensions is .HTM, .HTML, .SHTM, .SHTML, .CFM, .CFML, .ASP, .CGI, .PL.
Technique 6.2.B - User notification of dynamic content changes
Trigger on any programmatic object.
Technique 6.3.A - User notification of usability when programatic objects are disabled.
Add APPLETs to list of programmatic objects (probably should move definition of them to an appendix).
Checkpoint 6.5 - Ensure that dynamic content is accessible or provide an alternative presentation or page
New Technique: trigger on programmatic objects.
Technique 7.1.A - User notification of potential screen flicker
Clarify that it's triggered on programmatic objects.
Checkpoint 7.3 - Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid movement in pages
New Technique: trigger on programmatic objects.
Technique 7.5.A - Remove auto-redirect attributes from META elements
Exception to current algorithm: delay of redirect is 0 (in CONTENT attribute value, separated from URL with a semicolon) - specifically mentioned in the Checkpoint. If there isn't a specified delay, is it also implicitly 0? in which case, we only need to trigger if there is a specified delay greater than 0.
Technique 9.1.A - User notification of server-side image map use
Trigger only if USEMAP not also found.
Checkpoint 9.2 - Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner
New Technique: programmatic objects
Checkpoint 9.3 - For scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event handlers
New Technique: suggest adding device-independent event handlers for the following device-dependent ones (as attributes of HTML elements, for repair, we could add them with the same attribute value as the device-dependent one):
Checkpoint 9.4 - Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects
New Technique: check for TABINDEX attribute for A, AREA, BUTTON, INPUT, OBJECT, SELECT, TEXTAREA
Checkpoint 9.5 - Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links
New Technique: check for ACCESSKEY attribute for A, AREA, BUTTON, INPUT, LABEL, LEGEND, TEXTAREA. Note: only first two may be covered by this checkpoint, I thought there was another checkpoint for form controls but don't see it.
Technique 10.1.A - Check anchors for 'new window' attributes
Trigger if A|AREA has any TARGET attribute, which will always open a new window unless there exists a window in another frame with that name. Plus always for "_blank" and "_new" as shown.
Checkpoint 10.1 - Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user
New Technique: trigger on SCRIPT elements, unless we bother to check for the "window.open()" command (knowing that window might be a variable of type window).
Checkpoint 10.2 - Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned
New Technique: currently, ask
Checkpoint 10.3 - Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables that lay out text in parallel, word-wrapped columns
New Technique: only trigger if table has been determined to be a layout table, and it has more than one column
Checkpoint 10.4 - Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas
New Technique: following algorithms collectively would cover this:
Checkpoint 10.5 - Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links
New Technique: between every </A> and every <A> there must be at least one non-whitespace character surrounded by at least one whitespace character. Whitespace is a space, tab, CR, or &nbsp;
Checkpoint 11.1 - Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported
New Technique: ask
Checkpoint 11.2 - Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies
New Technique: ask, or run through a validator, or something. We might want to check for common ones, such as replace IMG and APPLET with OBJECT, etc.
Checkpoint 11.3 - Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences
New Technique: I think this is on the server end, and out of our scope, therefore an ask
Checkpoint 11.4 - If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page
New Technique: maybe we should only trigger this on pages that do not pass priority 1? 2? Automatic checkpoints
Checkpoint 12.4 - Associate labels explicitly with their controls
New Technique: check for presence of LABEL element whose FOR attribute value matches a form control's ID value
Checkpoint 13.1 - Clearly identify the target of each link
New Technique: check for common bad link phrases such as "click here".
New Technique: check for validated TITLE attribute of link.
Checkpoint 13.2 - Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites
New Technique: check for RDF in document
Checkpoint 13.3 - Provide information about the general layout of a site, Checkpoint 13.4 - Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner, Checkpoint 13.5 - Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism
We've talked about ways this might be done when checking several pages across the site. Do we want to put into this Techniques or wait for later?
Checkpoint 13.7 - If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences
Only trigger if there is a FORM element or something with an ISINDEX attribute (I forget which element took that in really old HTML)
Checkpoint 13.9 - Provide information about document collections
New Technique: check for LINK element with a REL or REV attribute whose value is a URI as one plus; presence of RDF may be another plus
Checkpoint 14.3 - Create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages
If there is a linked stylesheet, would that be a clue?