WCAG 2.0 Feedback - General

In order of appearance.......

1.
The first sentence of the Purpose refers to 'creating
accessible Web sites' but an 'accessible web site'
remains undefined in the document.
Suggest a definition of an accessible web site.

One possibility 
'An accessible web site is one that is easy and
satisfying to use for people with disabilities'

2.
I am unsure what the 'How to read this document'
section is for.
One of the issues of web sites in general is that
designers 'impose' an information heirarchy on users
that 'makes sense to the designers'.
The statement 'How to read this document' seems
similar to me.
Suggest 'How to get the most out of this document' or
'Overview' (The latter seems closer to the contents of
the section)

3.
In the same section the sentence 
The normative text is what you must conform to' needs
an 'in order to create an accessible web site'
addition or something along these lines.

4.
Audience Section.
See
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2001JulSep/0828.html

5. 
Scope.
My take on the difference between usability and
accessibility is simply in the 'audience addressed'.
That is using the definition of an accessible web site
above 

'An accessible web site is one that is easy and
satisfying to use for people with disabilities'

'An usable web site is one that is easy and satisfying
to use for (insert group or groups here)'

6.
Checkpoint 1.2 'Provide synchronized media equivalents
for time-dependent presentations'
I don't understand this
How about 'Provide captions and/or audio descriptions
for multimedia presentations'

7.
Checkpoint 1.3 - Definitions - Example 1
Change 'anticipate' to 'determine' or 'establish'

8.
Checkpoint 1.4 - Benefits
'intelligible' should read 'unintelligible'

9.
Checkpoint 1.5 
Suggest straight after the checkpoint, something along
the lines of
'The separation of the content and structure of a page
from its presentation is equivalent to the separation
of 'what is being communicated' from 'how it is
communicated'.'

10. Checkpoint 1.5 - Benefits
Apart from the last sentence, the benefits don't seem
to be benefits.

11. Checkpoint 1.5 - Example 1
I don't get this description as being an example of
separating content and structure from presentation.
It seems to me an example of 'one bit of markup being
separate from another bit of markup'

12. Checkpoint 2.1 - Provide multiple site navigation
mechanisms
Suggest reword to 'Provide multiple ways to access
content'

13. Checkpoint 2.1 - Success Criterion 1
This criterion is 'too loose'.
All web sites have 'one ... navigation mechanism ...
that covers ... selected portions of the content
comprising a Web site'

how about

'One or more navigation mechanisms are provided that
cover all of the content comprising a Web site'
so that there must be at least a search mechanism or a
site map.

14. Guideline 3 - In General
Working with the title 'Create ('passive') content
that is easy to understand'.

Checkpoints 3.1 and 3.2 and 3.5 appear to be 'general
ease of understanding' checkpoints that apply across
the board

Checkpoint 3.3 seems tautological.
How about 'Write clearly and simply'

Checkpoint 3.4 appears to be either an example that
applies for people with 'cognitive disabilities' or a
'general ease of understanding' checkpoint (yes I have
read some of the archives <grin>)

What I would like to suggest is a new checkpoint
'Create content that is designed to overcome barriers
to understanding'

Then various 'sub checkpoints' which detail the
barriers, such as 

Barrier
Complexity of ideas and concepts, abstraction

Solution
-Use concrete rather than abstract ideas relating
closely to the audience or the subject. 
-Do not use analogy as it may be taken literally
-Use clear pictorial images. 

Don't have a strong take on whether 3.4 would become a
'sub checkpoint' or not.


15.
Checkpoint 3.3 - Success Criteria 1
Couldn't penetrate the meaning of this sentence

16. General Point
Throughout the document the text '(informative)'
appears alot after 'Benefits'.
Is this necessary as the 'How to read this document'
section details that 'benefits' are 'normative'?

Regards
Graham Oliver






=====
'Making on-line information accessible'
Mobile Phone : +64 25 919 724 - New Zealand
Work Phone : +64 9 846 6995 - New Zealand
AIM ID : grahamolivernz

____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie

Received on Tuesday, 4 September 2001 23:40:50 UTC