RE: RE: RE: Impact Analysis for Guideline 4.2

Loretta wrote (in response to Gregg):
<blockquote>
I think the screen reader access would need to be provided by the user
agent for the technology in which you 
are creating the user interface. So this question would definitely
affect baseline 
</blockquote>Hmmm. I don't think I understand this. There seems to be an
implied separation between the user agent and the screen reader that
makes the user agent *responsible* somehow for providing screen reader
functionality? Am I reading that right?

As I undersand it (and I may well be completely off), the mainstream
user agent (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) is a more or less
unwitting "host" for the screen reader. JAWS, Window-Eyes, HAL, HPR,
etc., all know IE is there; IE doesn't know they're there, however., and
could do nothing to help the AT even if it wanted to.  (t sends stuff
through MSAA, but not in response to the presence of a screen reader--
it communicates with MSAA whether there's a screen reader installed or
not, as far as I understand.)

So maybe I've wirtten myself into figuring it out a little: Loretta, do
you mean that the primary UA is responsible for exposign whatever it
knows about your custom interface elements to whatever AT might be on
board? And isn't this where UAAG comes in? 
John
"Good design is accessible design."

Dr. John M. Slatin, Director 
Accessibility Institute
University of Texas at Austin 
FAC 248C 
1 University Station G9600 
Austin, TX 78712 
ph 512-495-4288, fax 512-495-4524 
email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu 
Web http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility 



-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of lguarino@adobe.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 8:59 PM
To: Gregg Vanderheiden
Cc: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Impact Analysis for Guideline 4.2



Gregg, you must never sleep! And we definitely need to discuss this
topic; thanks for bringing it up.

I think the screen reader access would need to be provided by the user
agent for the technology in which you 
are creating the user interface. So this question would definitely
affect baseline considerations. 

We may also be making other assumptions about the "host" user agent,
what role it plays in interacting with the 
user interface created by the content author, and hence about the
division of responsibility between the content 
author and user agent.

Loretta

Received on Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:45:48 UTC