- From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 18:33:44 +1100 (AEDT)
- To: WAI Markup Guidelines <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
This was written in response to Charles McCathie-Nevile's latest contribution on this topic, with the subject line appropriately renamed. For the most part, I think the latest draft handles the issue of scripts quite well: it recommends that they be made directly usable, where possible, but the basic point is that alternative versions of the document that do not depend on scripts, and offer the same functionality, must be provided. As Charles has intimated, the best solution is to use server-side scripts to produce interactive content, as a substitute for, or an alternative supplied in parallel with, Javascript and other client-side scripts and applets. This technique does not appear to be expressly stated in the guidelines, however. An accessible site must be capable of serving only HTML plus style sheets, to a client that does not support scripts, image files, audio files, etc., with all information conveyed in well marked up HTML, but with those other (multimedia) services provided for those who can take advantage of them. This appears to be the essence of what the guidelines are requiring in many of their specific recommendations. Server-side scripts and data bases which generate content dynamically are of the utmost benefit in achieving the desired goals; and they need to be mentioned in appropriate parts of the guidelines, as valuable techniques, with further elaboration in the "techniques document". Moreover, sites in which the content is largely generated by the server from data bases, or which use templates to achieve internal consistency, are easier to maintain (and this is also a significant advantage of style sheets).
Received on Wednesday, 18 November 1998 02:33:49 UTC