[w3c-wai-gl] <none>

Here is my action item, yet again. Hopefuly a bit better, although it still 
has a way to go.


Yours,

L

3, Design for ease of comprehension

3.1 Use a consistent style of presentation that will facilitate 
comprehension of the content.
The purpose of presentation is to communicate the meaning of the content, as 
effectively as possible. Thus, to aid understanding, it is vital that the 
structure and semantics of the content be readily apparent from the 
presentational conventions chosen by the author.

Use color, styles, and graphics to emphasize the structure of the document, 
and to aid the user's ability to:
a) orientate himself within the document,
b) focus on the important elements of the document,
c) differentiate between a key element and the explanatory or supplementary 
material.
2 Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where 
natural and appropriate.
For example,
a) Divide user interface controls into logically organized groups. Use 
headings, paragraphs, lists etc., appropriately to communicate relationships 
among items, topics or ideas.
b) Paragraphs and sections should have clear, accurate, and informative 
headers.
c) Processing information can further made manageable by limiting each 
paragraph to one main idea. The topic of the paragraph can be specified 
(within a tag?) at the beginning of the sentence.
3.6 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content.
This guideline is intended to facilitate comprehension of the content by all 
readers, especially those with cognitive disabilities. It should not be 
interpreted as discouraging the expression of complex or technical ideas. 
Authors should however strive for clarity and simplicity in their writing, 
and review the text with these considerations in mind prior to publication 
on the web.
3.7 Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will 
facilitate comprehension of the content.
Auditory and graphical presentations can do much for improving the 
comprehensibility of a Web site, especially to people with cognitive 
disabilities or to those who are unfamiliar with the language in which the 
textual content is written. Particularly helpful are clear, uncluttered, 
minimalist diagrams representing the association and relationships between 
different ideas.
In contrast, diagrams that are designed to represent multiple layers of 
ideas, are often cluttered and confusing.
Note that material provided in auditory or visual forms must also be 
available as text (see guideline 1.1).
3.8 Use headings, labels and titles appropriately to identify structurally 
significant divisions within the content.
For example, use headings to identify important topics or subdivisions 
within a document. Label table headers, user interface controls and other 
complex structures within the content.
Note that in addition to full, descriptive labels, it may also be 
appropriate, in designing complex structures such as tables and forms, to 
provide abbreviated labels which can be used when the content is rendered on 
small displays or via speech output.
3.9 Provide an overview or summary of highly structured materials, such as 
tables and groups of user interface controls.
A structure should be considered complex, if it is not immediately obvious 
what each piece of information is, and the reason for its position within 
the structure.
Insinuations and trends that are intended to be identified by analyzing the 
structure, should be explicitly stated in the summary.
3.10 Define key terms, and provide expansions for abbreviations and 
acronyms, which should be identified using appropriate markup.
Note: only the first occurrence of an abbreviation or acronym occurring in a 
document need be expanded. Expansion dictionaries, for instance in metadata, 
may be provided as an alternative to an expansion in the text of a document.
3.11 Minimize content that will interfere with the user’s ability to focus.
Animations and banners frequently disorientate the user and interfere with 
the user’s ability to focus from the main content of the page.
This can be improved by:
a) Restricting these items to one section of the page can help the user 
retain focus.
b) For a content filled site, one may further provide the user with an 
option view without banners.
4, Design for ease browsing and navigation


4.1 Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms throughout a document 
or web site.
Such navigational mechanisms may include logically organized groups of 
hypertext links, an overview or table of contents, a site map (with an 
appropriate textual equivalent; see guideline 1.1), an index, etc. To help 
the User’s navigate:
a) They should be easy to locate within the over-all structure of the 
content.
b) They should be consistent across web pages or related documents.
c) Navigation can be made clearer by placing links on a phrase that explains 
the link, and not on generic phrases.
d)  Navigation techniques can also be employed to help the user skim a 
document, examples of this includes inpage anchors at each heading, grouping 
collections of links and allowing them to be bypassed.

4.2 If search functions are provided by a web site, enable different types 
of searches for different skill levels and preferences.
elaborating text.?
4.3 Avoid methods that interfere with navigation.
Practices that can disorient a visitor include
a) automatic refresh,
b) redirecting,
c) opening a new browser window,
d) frames that mess up the "back" functionality offered by browsers.

To improve this situation, use the name attribute to title  each  frame for 
orientation, avoid opening new windows, and always use a readable document 
as the frame source.

Note: (See guideline 1.1) Ensure that all links have a textual equivalents.
Examples include buttons and clickable images. Image maps should be defined 
client side. Use the "alt" parameter on all <area> tags. A server side image 
map should have alternative links. For example: alt="Server side site map, 
text links will follow".

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Received on Thursday, 21 September 2000 05:12:52 UTC