- From: Wendy A Chisholm <wendy@w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 12:30:28 -0400
- To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Hello all, As I incorporate Andi's and Lisa's suggested edits into a new draft of the reformulation (stay tuned), it seems that a few checkpoints are primarily addressing pages of content rather than applications. For example, "Provide an overview or summary of highly structured materials, such as tables and groups of user interface controls." To me, "highly structured materials" implies objects that have been included in a page. While I agree that summaries are important for tables of data, I don't know that a "summary" is needed for every group of form controls. The "fieldset" and "legend" are ways in XHTML/HTML to provide contextual and grouping information for a group of controls. This is usually enough. I have not seen a case where a summary is needed nor can I think of one. Has anyone run into a group of form controls for which they needed a summary? It would not surprise me that one exists, but I do not believe this is the norm. Also, how would you provide a summary on a group of form controls in XHTML? Why is it that a summary is needed for tables and not groups of form controls? Frankly, I think it's because of the lack of tools being used to navigate tables. Navigating forms has been widely available for a while. Navigating tables is still a new thing to people. Therefore, I may need a map to help me get through the table. This is primarily because tables can be navigated on a number of axes whereas forms are pretty straightforward. Beyond XHTML/HTML and the page paradigm, should it become a common programming practice to provide a summary for a group of controls in an applet or a full-fledged application? In Java, you can add an "accessibleDescription" to any object. This means that if you have created a group of objects, they collectively become an object that you could attach a description to. This description could be a summary. I think the same argument applies to the Java app as to the XHTML page: if there are a number of axes in which to navigate an object and that navigation is not straightforward, a summary can act as a map to help the user through. However, for most applications, I think a summary is overkill. Therefore, I propose: 1. In regards to this specific checkpoint, we do not require that all groups of user interface objects have a summary. 2. We create an open issue to discuss which objects/elements/widgets should have summaries. 3. We create an open issue and discuss when summaries are required versus when they are recommended versus when they are a good thing to do. 4. In general, we need to keep applications and other technologies in mind. It is easiest to think in terms of pages of XHTML since that is what we know best. Others have raised this and I know we are aware, but I am sending a friendly reminder. <grin> Thoughts? --wendy -- wendy a chisholm world wide web consortium web accessibility initiative madison, wi usa tel: +1 608 663 6346 /--
Received on Thursday, 28 September 2000 12:24:31 UTC