Re: Technique 14.1 - Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content

It is better to check against a dictionary of words that are common (among
other things, it is more likely that such a disctionary will already be in
the system for spellchecking...) and identify those that are not found. If we
rely on having all uncommon words in our dictionary we are bound to fail.

cheers

Charles McCN

On Thu, 15 Jun 2000, Chris Ridpath wrote:

  I'll modify these to read:
  
  14.1.4 - Avoid slang and jargon.
  evaluation: any text within the document
  Check all words in the document against a dictionary of slang and jargon
  words that are in the document's primary language. If any slang or jargon
  words are found then inform the user and allow them to change the words.
  
  14.1.8 - Avoid specialized meanings of familiar words
  evaluation: any text within the document
  This is a manual check. User will have to check the entire document.
  
  14.1.5 - Favor words that are commonly used
  evaluation: any text within the document
  Check all words in the document against a dictionary of uncommonly used
  words that are in the document's primary language. If any uncommon words are
  found then inform the user and allow them to change the words.
  
  14.1.6 - Use active rather than passive verbs.
  evaluation: any text within the document
  For a document with a primary language of English, check for form of the
  verb to be (is, am, be, being, were, was, been). If the sentence contains
  any of these words then suggest to the author that they should check the
  sentence for passive verbs.
  (Another indicator is 'by'.)
  
  Can anyone refine the algorithm in 14.1.6 (passive verbs) to make it more
  accurate?
  What about other languages for 14.1.6?
  
  Chris
  
  
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>
  To: "Chris Ridpath" <chris.ridpath@utoronto.ca>
  Cc: "WAI ER IG List" <w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org>
  Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 1:23 AM
  Subject: Re: Technique 14.1 - Use the clearest and simplest language
  appropriate for a site's content
  
  
  > These can mostly be automated by using dictionary lookups. (The exception
  is
  > specialised meanings for normal words) And yes, it is possible to get a
  > reasonably accurate test for whether a verb is used actively or passivley
  in
  > many languages. An examle algorithm for english is to look for a past
  > participle with a part of the verb to be. (That is oversimplified, but
  works
  > for the examples in this message...)
  >
  > cheers
  >
  > Charles
  >
  > On Wed, 14 Jun 2000, Chris Ridpath wrote:
  >
  >   Starting suggestions:
  > [snip]
  >   14.1.4 - Avoid slang, jargon, and specialized meanings of familiar words
  >   evaluation: any text within the document
  >   This is a manual check. User will have to check the entire document.
  >
  >   14.1.5 - Favor words that are commonly used
  >   evaluation: any text within the document
  >   This is a manual check. User will have to check the entire document.
  >
  >   14.1.6 - Use active rather than passive verbs.
  >   evaluation: any text within the document
  >   This is a manual check. User will have to check the entire document. (Is
  >   there a way to accurately detect active vs. passive verbs?)
  >
  >
  

--
Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative                      http://www.w3.org/WAI
Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001,  Australia

Received on Thursday, 15 June 2000 20:01:21 UTC