Multiple guidelines views (views)

Here is a new idea (I think):

I've suggested three possible ways to divide the guidelines (in a single
"document"). These are:

1. Presentation | Interaction | Comprehension | Technology (PICT - current
system)

2. Access | Navigation | Comprehension (ANC)

3. Content | Structure | Presentation (CSP)

There will definitely be more.

I said that I thought that one method would prove superior in eliminating
overlap. But what if this isn't true?

Now I have a new idea based on something I've been working on for my own
sites:

What if we:

1. Removed the numbers from the checkpoints and assigned each one an ID.

2. Associated each checkpoint with one or more of the areas above
(presentation, access, etc.)

3. Set up the guidelines so that the user could select different modes of
organizing the checkpoints. In other words, I could go to the site and say,
I want to see the checkpoints organized by the ANC method. And the
guidelines would reformat themselves into categories based on Access,
Navigation, and Comprehension. Later I, or someone else, could view them in
Content, Structure, and Presentation mode.

This system sort of walks our talk, but it has implications for compliance.
But as I said, I think we ought to think seriously about forgetting about
compliance (a legal term) and start thinking about making the guidelines as
helpful and comprehensible as possible. As we've learned with WCAG 1.0, I
think, compliance is nearly impossible to measure (and ends up the source of
much controversy).

I don't know if I've explained this very well. Can anyone elucidate this
idea better?

Chas. Munat

Received on Monday, 20 August 2001 16:59:39 UTC