- From: Paul Adelson <paul.adelson@citicorp.com>
- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 16:18:16 -0500
- To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Comments from an IG follower. Hope these are helpful. I like the new guidelines a lot. The Quicktest! features especially makes the guidelines feel more approachable. One concern: the early part of the abstract is so brief it may be difficult to understand, and may frustrate or scare novice readers from wanting to read further. Comments: Section A: #1, Current >>>>>>>> 1.Ensure that all the information on the page may be perceived entirely visually or entirely through auditory means, or that all information is also represented textually. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Makes it sound ok if a page can be perceived ONLY visually (and not audibly), or ONLY audibly (and not visually), and that textual alternatives are only needed if the visual and audio are mixed one one page. Possible alternate wording: "Ensure that all information on the page is either represented textually, or that users can perceive the information entirely through visual means and entirely through auditory means. For instance, provide either textual or audio descriptions of photographs to facilitate non-visual browsing." Or if that's not what was meant, alternative two [caps indicate changed language]: "Ensure that all the information on the page may be perceived entirely visually or entirely through auditory means, AND that all information is also represented textually." [I'm not sure what an audio alternative to a photo does for deaf-blind individuals, for whom text is still an alternative.] [Is it worth explaining that bitmaps of text are not textual information in point #1? You explain what ‘content’ etc are in #3.] #3, Current >>>>>>>>>>>>> 3.Always separate the content on your site (what you say), and the way you choose to structure that content (how you organize it), from the way the content and structure are presented (how you want people to "see" it). <<<<<<<<<<<< I’m having trouble understanding what that means. Does it mean: “Use HTML4.0 elements and stylesheets for their intended purposes. For instance, giving text the attribute <BIG> or using a header attribute like <H1> may both increase the visual size of text on the screen. But <H1> should be used to indicate the start of a new document section (not just to display larger text), and <BIG> should only be used to display bigger text (not to indicate the start of a new section). Following the standards will ensure that your content, information structure, and presentation directives (what you say, how you organize it, and how you want it to appear) can all transform gracefully when accessed with alternative browsing methods.” #2, Current >>>>>>>> 2.Ensure that pages will be operable on various types of hardware including devices without mice, with small, low resolution, or black and white screens, with only voice or text output, without screens, etc. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This sounds impossibly complicated to people who have no experience with alternative access methods. I spent months trying to convince people via phone and email that these ‘impossible’ things can be done, and they were only convinced when the saw a screen-reader and tried it out. May I suggest moving #2 down to #3, and reword to something like: “Ensure that pages allow the flexibility to be operable on various types of hardware including devices without mice, with small, low resolution, or black and white screens, with only voice or text output, without screens, etc. Following the principles suggested above will go a long way toward achieving this goal.” Hopefully the above suggestions can help novices feel more comfortable that they can understand and perform the tasks necessary to build accessible sites. Cheers, -- Paul
Received on Tuesday, 15 September 1998 17:18:07 UTC