Action Item

Last year I took a self-assigned "action item" to attempt to put the list 
of checkpoints into a form (table) that might be both less imposing and 
easier to use for people who wanted a handy-dandy "Checkpoint Checker".

I took the various WCAG 1.0 checkpoints and classified them in a table. 
Along with links to the guidelines, checkpoints, techniques, and selected 
tools/references it became
http://rdf.pair.com/xpos.html
http://rdf.pair.com/plain.htm for folks put off by styling elaborations

It was well-received and even translated into Spanish at
http://www.sidar.org/traduc/checker.htm

One of the main thrusts of GL's effort is to attend to the expected barrage 
of complaints about the opacity of the upcoming 2.0 document.

A little history: a few years ago Harvey Bingham almost off-handedly 
remarked that he had been part of a successful attempt to put an entire 
computer language's essentials on a business card and it was proposed that 
something similar be done by EO to make the guidelines communicable in such 
a medium. Result: the QuickTips card which has been reprinted often enough 
to have over 200,000 copies given out!

Although such a card will likely ensue the publication of WCAG 2.0 it seems 
that the effort to make the guidelines more, well "accessible" (in the 
sense of non-offputting) for lay readers is in the GL WG bailiwick since if 
we're writing the document we should ensure its ready readability.

In addition to the card I think it imperative that there be a screen that 
summarizes what the new document is like/about. Instead of the more formal 
language of the guidelines/checkpoints this screen would use single words 
in a table that characterize the idea of each guideline. As a start I have 
chosen "Transportable", "Controllable", Comprehensible", "Compatible" which 
more or less depict the intents of the four guidelines. The bulleted list 
accompanying each of these "principles" is not intended to be a restatement 
of each guideline but just elucidations of the principles in the same vein: 
terse suggestions of what the principle suggests.

What I hope we can do in parallel with devising the checkpoints is to 
improve this screen and make it something about which it can be something 
"we" do rather than what "I" do.

The initial version is at http://rdf.pair.com/xguide.htm and only the first 
icon has what I propose to be a multimedia link, in this case to a .wav 
file (takes a while to load, but most browsers will cache and play it more 
quickly after the first time it is "clicked here"). It would be nice to 
have something linked from each icon so that we can "live the life we sing 
about in our song."

So as a first query: how 'bout them "principles" - the chosen "-ble" words 
that is? I used single words and think that only "transportable" is at all 
"techie" - but should still be pretty clear if we write good bullets 
beneath it? I deliberated on using "interoperable" but settled on the more 
everyday "compatible". "Controllable" and "Comprehensible" are familiar and 
probably pretty clear?

--
Love.
                 ACCESSIBILITY IS RIGHT - NOT PRIVILEGE

Received on Wednesday, 7 March 2001 12:19:55 UTC