Guideline 1 examples

I suggest that we remove the lines at the start of Guideline 1 that read:

"Have you ever adjusted the height of a chair because it was too low or too
high? Have you ever adjusted the volume on a stereo? Have you ever used a
magnifying glass to read small print?"

First, this is what I was referring to as "teachy." The answer to all of
these questions is "Duh!" Our audience is primarily people who have some
sort of expertise. The guidelines should be comprehensible to as many people
as possible, but the *tone* of the guidelines should be appropriate to our
primary audience.

The same comprehensibility can be gained by rephrasing the questions as
examples:

We adjust objects in our environment to meet our needs and use tools to help
us do things we cannot do on our own. Both in real life and on the Web, some
people rely on these adjustments to work, to contribute to society, and to
enjoy life. There are many familiar examples from everyday life. One person
uses a stepladder to reach an object on a high shelf. Another uses a
magnifying glass to read small print. A third uses captions to understand
what a television news announcer is saying.

Here are some examples from the World Wide Web:

* A person away from home might use a cell phone to check sports scores.
* A person who cannot see text might use a screen reader to read the text
aloud.
* A person without a mouse might use a keyboard to navigate a web page.


These may not be the best examples, but I hope that I've captured the
essence of what I'm trying to say.

Chas. Munat


NOTE: I'd better explain what I mean by "people who have some sort of
expertise."

Our primary audience should be the people responsible for big government and
commercial web sites as these are the sites that most need to be accessible.
The people who contribute to these sites will be programmers, management,
and content providers.

Yes, these guidelines will be read by many, including children. So they
should be comprehensible by children (as much as possible). But the TONE
should not be a tone that will offend adults. I find the tone of the
questions at the start of Guideline 1 to be condescending. Give me examples.
Don't ask me questions for which the answers are obvious. It insults my
intelligence.

Received on Saturday, 18 August 2001 18:19:31 UTC