- From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 14:14:29 +1100 (AEDT)
- To: HTML Guidelines Working Group <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
The editors' discussion of issues 10 and 11 in the cshort form of the changes log indicates the difficulties inherent in a two-level classification scheme. I am in favour of a strong definition of "required" such as that proposed. The question is whether it would be preferable to divide the presently existing category of "helpful" suggestions into two sub-classes: (1) strongly recommended: the document may be very difficult and inconvenient for some groups of users to access if these are not followed; (2) helpful: these add to the usability of a page but non-compliance would not seriously impede access. Alternatively: retain the existing classification system, but change the definition of "helpful" so as to discourage authors from ignoring what they may regard as "merely useful or incidental" guidelines that can safely be ignored. This change would amount to making it clear that failure to adhere to "helpful" recommendations would seriously reduce the effectiveness and facility with which the document can be accessed by certain groups of readers. At this stage I am not committing myself to one alternative or the other.
Received on Monday, 2 February 1998 22:14:57 UTC