Action item: "default"

I took an action item at yesterday's call to modify the reviewer's not on
guideline 4.4 to include a definition of "default presentation" as it is
used in the guideline.

Here's a shot at it.  It needs some work:

<checkpoint>
Checkpoint 4.4 Ensure that content remains usable when technologies that
modify default user agent processing or behavior are turned off or not
supported.
</checkpoint>
<note>
Note to reviewers: 
The term "default user agent processing or behavior" is intended to mean
what the user agent does with the markup in the absence of stylesheets (and
similar instruments).  It is only intended to cover markup languages which
expect to be rendered without the aid of stylesheets.  
HTML is an example of such a markup language - the browser is expected to
know how to format the HTML without the aid of CSS stylesheets.  The
guideline would require that HTML pages be usable with CSS disabled.  XML is
an example of a markup language for which there is no default rendering - in
the absence of a stylesheet a user agent may simply display the markup
itself. The guideline would not require that XML be usable without XSL/T and
CSS.
"Default processing or behavior" is NOT intended to mean the default
settings of the user agent (which in most modern user agents would have
style support enabled).
There is ongoing discussion in the working group about how to best express
this concept in a way that is not specific to HTML. Input from reviewers
would be greatly appreciated.
</note>

Received on Friday, 17 August 2001 21:56:02 UTC