RE: WCAG 2.0 -> 3 - Bottom Layer (Server Side Techniques)

There seems to be a large number of languages to choose from when it comes to scripts on the server or on the client side.

Should we then be specific about the language and include jsp, asp, javascript, perl script, c, java and vb script.  Do we want to only focus on a subset of thees languages (say JSP and javascript only), or do we look at this subset (say javascript and jsp) as the core where comprahensive techniques "must" be available, and provide a forum for people to contribute with techniques in other languages which "may" be made available but don't strictly have to be.

In addition to the list of technologies, should we include xsl (xslt) techniques as well.  (Maybe DTD?).

should we go further and include voiceML and MathML as we are doing with other xml languages such as xhtml and svg.  

And.... when we look at techniques with given languages, should we be specific about the version refered to such as css 1 or 2, html 4 or xhtml 1, etc.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Geoff Deering [mailto:gdeering@acslink.net.au]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 3:26 PM
> To: WAI GL
> Subject: WCAG 2.0 -> 3 - Bottom Layer (Server Side Techniques)
> 
> 
> 
> I feel there is a section here that needs addressing, and 
> yes, if others
> feel it is relevant and warranted, I'll draft the material on 
> it.  This is
> addressing "server side techniques".
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#how-to
> 
> see
> 
> <WCAG2 version="W3C Working Draft 24 June 2003">
> 3 - Bottom layer - Technology-specific application information
> The Techniques Documents will include code examples, screen 
> shots, and other
> information specific to a technology.  These documents will be
> non-normative. They will contain different strategies for meeting the
> requirements as well as the current preferred approaches 
> where they exist.
> Examples include:
> 
> * Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Hypertext 
> Markup Language
> (XHTML) Techniques
> * Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Techniques
> * Server-side scripting Techniques
> * Client-side scripting Techniques
> * Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Techniques
> * Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) Techniques
> * Extensible Markup Language (XML) Techniques
> 
> (These will become active links as the corresponding working 
> drafts are
> published)
> </WCAG2>
> 
> I am not too sure what defines "Server-side scripting 
> Techniques", but as a
> web developer I understand that as anything on the server 
> side that has to
> do with programming or markup.  What that does not refer to is server
> management and configuration techniques that address WCAG (and other
> issues).  I feel there is a real need to add "Server 
> Management Techniques"
> into this list.
> 
> Why? Web sites can greatly improve accessibility and 
> usability addressing
> server configuration and management issues.
> 
> For instance; server side redirects/redirection.  See
> 
> http://httpd.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_alias.html#redirect
> 
> If the redirection is marked as permanent, and if the user 
> requested the URL
> for redirection from a bookmark, the user agent is supposed 
> to update the
> bookmark (I haven't looked at UAAG thoroughly, but this was 
> always meant to
> be the case in handling HTTP).
> 
> There are heaps of other server side techniques, like using 
> mod_speling,
> mod_rewrite, etc.
> 
> There is also the hugely underused and undervalued 
> "Transparent content
> negotiation" (TCN), see
> 
> http://httpd.apache.org/docs/content-negotiation.html
> 
> It's true that Netscape 2.0 destroyed this feature by getting 
> that UA to
> market as quickly as possible, and sending back any requests 
> for browser
> configs with "*.*" (ie - everything including the kitchen 
> sink is installed
> on this UA), but it is reasonably well supported these days.  
> Well enough to
> build Web Services.
> 
> TCN becomes very important and far more sophisticated in XML content
> delivery systems such as Apache/Cocoon 
(http://cocoon.apache.org/).  This is
something I am spending more time with and would be happy to try and deliver
some Techniques, etc for, later down the track.

Is there any value or point to addressing these as part of WCAG2 Techniques?

Geoff Deering

Received on Tuesday, 26 August 2003 02:36:48 UTC