Re: Question on WAI Accessibility Guidelines

> I have a question regarding the subheading #11 under the topic Style and
> Structure:  "Do not misuse presentation elements for purposes of
> structure."  I am not clear on what this recommendation means.  Can you
> give me an example where this recommendation applies? 

It means that whenever possible you should use elements that convey 
meaning rather than visual presentation:

I read in the <CITE>New York Times</CITE> ...
rather than:  I read in the <I>New York Times</I> 

I think the word structure is heavily misused in the literature; 
There are two types of elements, those who convey _meaning of content_ 
and those who convey _presentational hints_ . Both CITE and I have the 
same structure (content model).

> I am working to
> bring my web site up to the current standards, and would like to know if
> I should make this change to all <HR> tags in the site, or only on
> certain ones.

Although HR is in some sense "presentational" I think it may be used to 
convey "sharp separation".

I would recommend using HR as a separator in cases where no other 
separation is indicated. For example to separate footnotes from 
the main text.

On the other hand if you start the subsections of 
your document with H2 there is no need for an HR before 
the heading H2.

Also I think that it is a bad idea to use HR as underlining headings or 
emphasizing the text between two rules. These latter examples are better
dealt with stylesheets, namly border properties. 

> 
> Thanks!
> leslie.brogger@born.com
> 
> 

You are welcome.
Nir Dagan
http://www.econ.upf.es/%7edagan/

Received on Thursday, 4 June 1998 04:43:07 UTC