RE: 1.1 suggestion

08 June 2004 rewrite of guideline 1.1


Here's yet another rewrite of Guideline 1.1.  It addresses some comments
by Jaso:
1.	Changes "text alternatives" (in the Guideline itself) to
"equivalent alternatives."  This is consistent with WCAG 1.0 Guideline
1, so it takes advantage of people's familiarity with the term there.
It also  clears up a problem with the success criterion about null alt (
because it no longer treats the empty alt attribute as a *text*
alternative.
2.	Deletes the phrase "through context or markup" from L1 SC 1.  I
had written "Text alternatives are associated with non-text content
through context or markup," and Jason had suggested adding "or a data
model" to cover cases where content is produced without using markup
languages and for consistency with 1.3.  But I think it might be cleaner
to avoid specifying *how* alternatives are associated with non-text
content-that belongs in techniques.

I like Mike's idea that the material about syndicated content belongs in
the conformance section rather than the guidelines, but haven't tried to
wordsmith that material; I've just omitted it.

Mike advocates putting the requirement to synchronize equivalents for
multimedia uner 1.1.  This has logical appeal: multimedia is non-text
content, so could well be covered under 1.1.  But we still have a whole
mess of issues related to multimedia, and I would suggest that that we
consider them under their present heading-under Guideline 1.2.  Once we
get that worked out, we can consider moving the success criteria to 1.1.

Meanwhile, here's my latest proposal for 1.1:

<08 June 2004 proposed wording for Guideline 1.1>
Guideline 1.1
Provide equivalent alternatives for all non-text content.

Level 1 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
1.	Text alternatives are explicitly associated with non-text
content, and one of the following is true:.
a.	For non-text content that is functional, such as graphical links
or buttons, text alternatives identify the purpose or function of the
non-text content; or,
b.	for non-text content that is used to convey information, text
alternatives convey the same information; or,  
c.	for non-text content that is intended to create a specific
sensory experience, such as music or visual art, text alternatives
identify and describe the non-text content.
2.	Non-text content that does not provide information or
functionality  can be bypassed by assistive technology.
3.	

Level 2 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
1.	Text alternatives can be accessed without an extreme  change of
context.

Level 3 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
1.	For multimedia content, a text document is provided that
includes descriptions of all important visual information as well as
transcripts of dialogue and other important sounds.


</08 June 2004 proposed wording for guideline 1.1>


"Good design is accessible design." 
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University of Texas at Austin
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email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu
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-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Jason White
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 1:18 am
To: Web Content Guidelines
Subject: RE: 1.1 suggestion



John M Slatin writes:
 > 
 > The "new proposed wording for Guideline 1.1" below attempts to
address the problems Gregg pointed out. 
This is excellent work; minor comments are included below.
 > 
 > 
 > Level 1 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
 > 1.	Text alternatives are explicitly associated with non-text
 > content through markup or contex [sic], and one of the following is
true:.

This raises the old question of the best generic term to use in place of
"markup", where we do not want to restrict the application of the
criterion to markup languages. Markup or data model is used in 1.3,
perhaps "markup, a data model, or context". Whatever we choose, it
should be consistent with 1.3.

Also, why "text alternatives" rather than the well established WCAG 1.0
term "text equivalents?" If we mean the same thing, perhaps we should
use the same terminology for consistency. If the meaning is different
then I think a new term is desirable to avoid confusions, in which case
"text alternative" is as good as any.

 > a.	For non-text content that is functional, such as graphical links
or buttons, text alternatives identify the purpose or function of the
non-text content; or,
 > b.	for non-text content that is used to convey information, there
are text alternatives that convey the same information; or,  

perhaps "the text alternatives convey the same information"; the
existence requirement is already specified above, I think. If it isn't
sufficiently clear, perhaps the first success criterion should read
"text alternatives are provided, and are explicitly associated..."


 > c.	for non-text content that is intended to create a specific
sensory experience, such as music or visual art, text alternatives
identify and describe the non-text content.
Fair enough. Maybe this justifies dropping the term "equivalent", as
they aren't genuinely equivalent to the non-text content (or perhaps
they are, given a suitably defined equivalence relation). I think this
is where dissatisfaction with "text equivalent" arose and I am not
persuaded that it is a strong argument.

 > 2.	Non-text content that does not provide information or
functionality  can be bypassed by assistive technology.
In the examples section, be sure to provide an example of this one. In
what conceivable circumstances is it not trivially satisfied?  > 
 > Level 2 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
 > 1.	Text alternatives can be accessed without an extreme  change of
context.
 > 
 > Level 3 success criteria for Guideline 1.1
 > 1.	For multimedia content, a text document is provided that
includes descriptions of all important visual information as well as
transcripts of dialogue and other important sounds.
 > 
 > 
 > </new proposed wording for guideline 1.1>
 >

Received on Tuesday, 8 June 2004 11:14:29 UTC