Additional comments on 31 July draft.

4.1 Choose technologies that support the use of these guidelines.

Markup languages, multimedia formats, software interface standards, etc.,
vary in their support of accessibility. When choosing which technologies to
use,
consider how easy it is apply these guidelines.

In the above text, Change

apply these guidelines

to

to apply these guidelines.

4.2 Use technologies according to specification.

Example 1, structural elements.
Do not use structural elements for purposes of presentation. Likewise, do
not use presentation elements for purposes of structure.

I think the above example itself needs a tangible example of structural vs.
presentation elements. e.g. previous example of stock prices scrolling?

4.3 Design user interfaces compatible with assistive technology.

In the below text, and possibly other places in the guidelines, the word
'must' is used.  Some standards bodies avoid the use of the word must,
preferring to use 'shall'.  I don't profess to fully understand the
distinction, however I think it is a legal one. Having said that, the word
'must' does seem to flow better grammatically. Also it may be that its
appropriate to use 'must' in the informative  text even if 'shall' is used
in normative text.

Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design:
device-independent access to functionality, keyboard operability,
self-voicing,
etc. When an embedded object has its "own interface", the interface -- like
the interface to the browser itself -- must be accessible. If the interface
of the embedded object cannot be made accessible, an alternative accessible
solution must be provided

Thanks
Tim

Received on Wednesday, 1 August 2001 01:28:32 UTC