Re: Request for quick feedback to WAI EOWG

to follow up on what Judy Brewer said:

> WAI Page Author Guidelines Working Group:
> 

> We would like your feedback on the language on the card before
> it goes to a pilot run.

A little spin doctoring follows below.

> 	Do you like this? - why?
> 
> 	Not like this? - why?
> 
> 	Fear it will be misunderstood? - how?
> 
> 	Fear it will be misused? - how?

Just Do It.  Ship me some.

-- start draft card --

> Quick tips for making your site accessible to people 
> with disabilities & users of mobile or slow Web devices

_Quick tips_ to make your Web message reach everyone, including
people with disabilities, handheld devices or slow connections.

> 1 Images, photographs & animations Concisely describe the
> pur-pose or con-tent of all visuals. Use the alt attribute.

> 2 Page organization A consistent page layout helps people with
> visual and learning disabilities. Use head-ings, lists and
> table summaries to make pages easy to scan.

_Page organization_ Use headings, lists and summaries to keep the
visitor oriented.  Use clear and consistent page structure across
pages.

> 3 Imagemaps Many people cannot use a mouse. Use the MAP element
> to provide imagemap hotspot text anchors.

> 4 Hypertext links Descriptive link text improves access for
> those who cannot see. Ensure that each link makes sense when
> read alone.

_Hypertext links_ sensitive _text_ in each link should _say_ where
it will take you.  Use TITLE for links containing only images.

_Imagemaps_ Use a client-side MAP to give text to the links
from image hotspots.

> 5 Graphs & charts Summarize content or use the longdesc
> attribute.

>  6 Audio For people who cannot hear audio content, provide
> captions or transcripts.

> 7 Video Provide text or audio descriptions of video content.

> 8 Frames Some Web technologies cannot render frames. Label each
> frame with title or name, and include a linear version of its
> content within the NOFRAMES element.

_Frames_ Label each frame with TITLE or NAME and include a working
hypertext start-page in a NOFRAMES section.

> 9 Tables Some Web technologies have trouble reading
> tables. Avoid using tables to format text columns. Use the
> headers, scope and abbr attributes to mark-up complex tabular
> information.

_Tables_ used for layout must linearize to a sensible reading order.

> 10 Evaluate accessibility View your site with different
> browsers; switch off graphics, sounds and animations; navigate
> via keyboard; use a monochrome monitor; use automated analysis
> tools.

_Check your work_ Validate the HTML and CSS of your site.  Check
accessibility with available tools and usability with several
browsers.

>  See www.w3.org/WAI for complete Page Author Guidelines &
> techniques

Better: See www.w3.org/WAI for complete why and how.

Recap: assumed policy decisions:

KISS: less is more.  This is just what you can put across in a
short, punchy list.  So it's not definitive.  If everybody did
just this, we would be _so_ much better off!

This implies what I did in terms of "no excuses" elimination of
rationale.  In a 10-top list on a business card, you just tell
'em what to do.  Let them follow the URL if they want to ask why.

This is also why I suppressed marginal points like advanced table
markup.

Stating the link text requirement first, and in general terms,
makes the image-map requirement a corollary.  Make them
consecutive with the link text rule first.

Style note: Emphasis in LHS (topic name that leads off) is
greater e.g. bold.  Emphasis in RHS (e.g. _text_) is italic or
color or something milder than in the LHS.  Do use ALL CAPS for
HTML keywords such as ALT and TITLE where the technical meaning
is intended.

Al

> 
> ###
> 
> ----------
> Judy Brewer    jbrewer@w3.org    +1.617.258.9741    http://www.w3.org/WAI
> Director, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) International Program Office
> World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
> MIT/LCS Room NE43-355, 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA,  02139,  USA
>

Received on Friday, 6 November 1998 15:54:19 UTC