Re: linearized tables and the 508 nprm

There are two issues here:

1. As Gregg pointed out in the relevant teleconference, this working group
has no mandate to comment on government regulations. Its individual
members, needless to say, are free to do so in their personal capacities,
and may employ whatever arguments they wish, discuss the issues in
policy-oriented fora, etc. Thus there is no question of this working
group, as such, commenting on regulations, or submitting such comments to
governmental bodies in any jurisdiction. Technical guidelines and
standards pertaining to the accessibility of web content, whether issued
by governments or private parties, are of course relevant to this working
group's activities and should be taken into account in that context.

2. The priority of checkpoint 5.3 was the outcome of detailed discussion
and represented, at least as of the publication of WCAG 1.0, the
considered opinion of the working group. I don't think it could be
regarded as an erratum, and hence (assuming this to be so), it falls to be
treated in the process of revising the guidelines. As part of that
process, the checkpoint itself may be subsumed under a broader requirement
(E.G. appropriate use of markup), and may not exist as a separate
requirement except in the HTML techniques document. In these
circumstances, the question of how priorities are to be addressed is yet
to be considred. Given that the current status of checkpoint 5.3
represents a considered decision of the working group, it could not be
reasonably treated in the errata, at least in my opinion; and for the sake
of full disclosure, I should add, speaking in my personal capacity rather
than as co-chair, that I believe the priority of checkpoint 5.3 was
rightly decided.

Received on Sunday, 16 April 2000 22:20:08 UTC