RE: Bug 506 - Defn of Structure

For what it's worth, Jason and I did indeed "take a look" at bug 506 and
I sent a proposed definition of structure to the list some time ago:
 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2004AprJun/0559.html#star
t
 
For convenience' sake, I'll paste our proposal below:
 
<proposed definition>
Structure
 
Structure includes all the parts of a Web resource and the way they are
organized.
 
 
 
The parts of a Web resource may include text, graphics, mathematical
equations, multimedia, etc. Some parts may contain other parts or create
relationships between two or more parts.
 
 
 
Some relationships are hierarchical. Examples include sections and
sub-sections of HTML documents, where each section or sub-section begins
with a title that is marked as an HTML heading.  The material in each
section is logically related to the heading. The headings show the
logical organization of the document.
 
 
 
Some relationships are not hierarchical. Examples include links between
two parts of the same document or between two documents.
 
 
 
Mathematical expressions also have structure.  It is possible to show
this structure.  For example, MathML can show the order in which
calculations should be performed.
 
 
 
Graphics may also have structure. Examples include flowcharts, diagrams,
maps, and other complex images. SVG makes it possible to identify the
structure of graphics.
 
 
 
User agents may make the structure of Web resources evident to the user.
 
 
 
</proposed definition>

 
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.ital.utexas.edu/>
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 Gregg Vanderheiden
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 12:33 PM
To: 'David MacDonald'; w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: RE: Bug 506 - Defn of Structure



David 

 

We have this wonderful term and concept of  "delivery unit"  that
addresses this I think.

 

The guidelines only deal with the "delivery unit" - so that would take
care of the problem you describe I believe. 

 

 

PS - if the source invokes a transcoder then the output of the
transcoder is the "delivery unit".  

If the user invokes a transcoder of their choice - then the transcoder
is a 'user agent' and the delivery unit is what goes INTO the
transcoder. 

 


Gregg

 -- ------------------------------ 
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. 
Professor - Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
Director - Trace R & D Center 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 


  _____  


From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of David MacDonald
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 8:53 AM
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: Bug 506 - Defn of Structure

 

Quite a while back I was assigned the task of clarifying the definition
of structure based on University of Kansas comments.

 

http://trace.wisc.edu/bugzilla_wcag/show_bug.cgi?id=506 

 

My proposed wording is in the Doc now. 

 

But the bug is still sending me daily reminders, I think perhaps because
an action item was taken by Jason and John to look at it. 

 

There is one piece of the University of Kansas' concerns that have not
yet been addressed. That is the clarification between structural backend
code, and structure of what is delivered to the client...(For example
the difference between backend PHP commands, which they consider to be
structural elements, that the user doesn't receive and HTML code like
H1, H2 etc that the user does receive.) 

 

So I think they would want a phrase like "structural elements that are
received by the client" in the definition.

 

I don't know if we can make that distinction without getting into some
nasty gray areas with transcoders and the like...but I though I would
bring it up since that was their concern. And I'm hoping to close the
bug and the friendly daily Bugzilla emails.

 

Cheers

David MacDonald