Re: Tone

Loretta wrote:
-    the further we go in the direction of advising authors about what to
say and how to say it, the less confidence I have that we can be effective.

Your concerns are valid, however for most guidelines at the best we can only
indicate the type of problem rather than the solution.
eg alt tags, we suggest 'use the alt attribute to describe the function of
each visual' this is not so helpful, and has been misinterpreted plenty.
For scripts the situation is rather more serious, if we have an interactive
game, what is 'alternative content' that is suitable, there is remarkably
little information available.
Certainly we need to avoid telling people what to say, we can suggest the
type of problem, and leaving the specific solution to the author.

-    Unless we can provide authors concrete advice about how they can
recognize what sorts of things will *inadvertantly* alienate the audience,
or what the
different cultural expectations are that they need to accommodate,

Certainly it is possible to offer examples either generic or specific, and
certainly not all need to be alienating.

eg many commercial sites offer fun activities to entice visitors.

perhaps we could have other positive suggestions.

jonathan chetwynd
IT teacher (LDD)
j.chetwynd@btinternet.com
http://www.peepo.com         "The first and still the best picture directory
on the web"

Received on Thursday, 27 September 2001 16:35:37 UTC