- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 15:48:07 -0500 (EST)
- To: Scott Luebking <phoenixl@netcom.com>
- cc: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Actually there is no need for the document to be generated at request-time: there are significant benefits in speed from generating a ste from a database and making it a static collection, even with multiple formats. The generation of only 2 forms does not avoid the problem of compromising the accessibility of a page for a person with low vision who requires on both a structured page and visual cues to the structure (and does not address the needs of people who have mobility impairments, etc.) In fact to support this approach multiple combinations are required. The amount of work generating mulitple combinations from a database is in effect the amount of work to multply the templates, and the amount of work maintaining consistency across multiple templates when there is any change required is substantial, and anecdotal evidence suggests it is not done well. Charles On Mon, 22 Nov 1999, Scott Luebking wrote: Hi, I thought it might be helpful to boil down what I sent out last week on dynamically generated web pages. 1. A server generates a web page by basically gathering information from one or more data sources like databases, XML documents, real time data suppliers, dynamic data generators, etc; analyzing the information as appropriate; deciding the format to present the information and then creating the web page in the format selected. 2. Since the document does not exist before the server generates it, the server can easily generate the document in multiple forms. This flexibility lets the document be generated in a form which is designed for visual users and also a form which is designed for blind users. 3. The ability to generate a document in multiple forms avoids the problem of compromising a desired visual form for the accessibility of the page for blind users and the problem of compromising accessibility for blind users to achieve a certain desired visual presentation. 4. Allowing the programmer handle the form of a generated web page at the software level will be easier and more efficient. The software has to generate the document any way. Supporting multiple forms will probably not be much harder. Also, it avoids the problem that the programmer can run into with version skews, etc, for tools like CSS, etc. Is there anything that I'm missing in this technical analysis? Scott --Charles McCathieNevile mailto:charles@w3.org phone: +1 617 258 0992 http://www.w3.org/People/Charles W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI MIT/LCS - 545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139, USA
Received on Monday, 22 November 1999 15:48:25 UTC