Re: Name of Page Author Guidelines

The question has come up occasionally as to whether the PA guidelines should
be called Page Author Guidelines or whether they should have a broader
title -

Web Author Guidelines
Site Author Guidelines
Something Else

The idea is that newer technologies and serving technologies are making
"page" an increasingly ambiguous concept..  and we need to apply the
guidelines beyond just page technologies.   Since we are close to sealing
the guidelines up this would be the last and best time to change the name if
we were going to.  But we need to decide soon.





Some thoughts to get you thinking

-  the guidelines seem to focus in at the page
level.  Although it could be argued that "all images should have
alternative text" should be applied site-wide but that each instance is
handled on its own page.  We might need to reword some things…

-  It sheds new light on "transform gracefully."  The definition would
change
to be more site-based, "To transform gracefully means that a site remains
usable despite user, technological, or situational constraints...Creating
sites that transform gracefully is not more costly, but requires a
different design approach that also makes individual pages compatible with
emerging mobile technologies...."

-  I think we can assume that the major design activities are not individual
pages, but site-based.  Therefore, taking that approach in the guidelines
would be in-synch with the audience.  However, would it deter people who
are creating single-page sites (personal home pages)? How about people who
just have a part of a site…or a page on a site. Or, is that their "site."

-  It seems that we can abstract out to the site level in the introductions
for each section (A, B, C), each guideline is page level, while techniques
are site-level.    Yes?




Your thoughts?

Gregg and Wendy


-- ------------------------------
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Professor - Human Factors
Dept of Ind. Engr. - U of Wis.
Director - Trace R & D Center
Gv@trace.wisc.edu, http://trace.wisc.edu/
FAX 608/262-8848
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Received on Tuesday, 10 November 1998 12:12:25 UTC