Re: "Freak Cases Warrant Generalization"...

On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, Sean B. Palmer wrote:


       "1.2 Synchronize text equivalents with multimedia presentations."

  This is too "technique-ized" for a general guideline. Maybe something like
  the following would be an adequate replacement:-

  1.2 Properly synchronize all media equivalents for time dependent
  presentations

CMN I agree with this suggestion. There is no reason why text is even
considered first among equals in this kind of case - the far more common
requirement is synchronisation of audio, in my experience.

SP  And I'm sure the same basics can be applied to 2/3/4. In general, think
  about the most outlandish cases possible - do the guidelines still apply?
  If not, change them... :-)

CMN The value of thinking about the outlandish cases is that it is what we
have to do to ensure people do not come back and say "in my case, I have done
something which directly contravenes the WCAG but is accessible", to the best
of our ability. Otherwise the document should be called "how to make normal
stuff accessible, and explicitly state that it has limited application. In my
understanding that is the case with Techniques documents, which are specific
to particulr technologies or funcitionalities, but not for guidelines and
checkpoints.

The ATAG used to have a checkpoint requiring that users could configure (e.g.
turn off) the timing of accessiblity checking / warnings. We decided in teh
working group that this was a useful technique, often required by the market
for some kinds of tool, but not actually a requirement for accessibility, and
that having it as a checkpoint would preclude conformance by a tool that did
everything right but didn't let the user turn of the warnings. Not everyone
wants such a tool, but if it works, it should be able to conform.

(my 2 bits worth on this rant...)

Charles McCN

Received on Saturday, 13 January 2001 20:36:18 UTC