- From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 09:17:08 +1100 (AEDT)
- To: HTML Guidelines Working Group <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Is there a need to introduce a section in the appendix of the guidelines which briefly introduces assistive technology for the benefit of HTML authors who, for the most part, would be unaware of its nature and function in enabling people with certain types of disabilities to access the web? Further, such an explanatory section could briefly outline the "universal design" idea and emphasise the broad range of devices which people may choose to use, whether due to a disability or other circumstance, as an interface to the web. Gregg wrote an excellent paper on this subject which appears in the electronic proceedings of the WWW6 conference. Although I would not consider a detailed discussion of these issues to be appropriate in the guidelines, a few paragraphs of explanation would surely be helpful, especially if it is expected that the page author guidelines will proceed to W3C recommendation status without the central reference document's becoming a W3C recommendation simultaneously with them. My specific proposal would be: divide the current appendix into four separate appendices. Three of these comprise the present Appendix, with checklist, acknowledgments and references; but a fourth gives a brief introduction to the issues for authors who are unfamiliar with the technology.
Received on Wednesday, 4 February 1998 17:17:31 UTC