Re: [techs] pronunciation of emoticons and symbols

> in this morning's call [2] we said we would define ascii art as multi-line
> ascii art,

You're defining the term using the term?

> but dash dash greater than is not an emoticon and it is not
> multi-line ascii art but it is a symbolic representation created out of
> characters.
>
> so, 2 points:
> 1. is the definition that we agreed on this morning accurate?

I suppose. I don't see how smileys or "symbolic representation[s] created
out of characters" are even worth talking about. If your user agent can be
configured to read or skip those, well, do it. Web authors should not be
constrained from using those simple, even trivial, devices.

> 2. jaws users are (or will be) able to add common "symbols" to their
> pronunciation dictionary which answers a question we asked in the call.

Interesting, of course, but not relevant for Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 2.0. Web *content* developers have no sway over how user agents
ultimately render their content. I would urge WAI and indeed WCAG WG to
resist their years-incubated impulse to craft guidelines according to the
peccadilloes of Jaws or any tool.

--

  Joe Clark  |  joeclark@joeclark.org
  Author, _Building Accessible Websites_
  <http://joeclark.org/access/> | <http://joeclark.org/book/>

Received on Saturday, 23 August 2003 07:00:16 UTC