SC 2.4.5: links in context

 <<link_context_and_SC2.4.5.mht>> Hello,

In our discussions of SC 2.4.5, I've taken a strong position in favor of
requiring programmatic association of links with text describing the
link destination. Others hae taken equally strong position that
programmatic association should not be required. This past weekend I did
some personal investigation (not formal research) to see if I could find
some concrete information that might help us address the problem wisely.

The results are in the attached document (MS Word saved as "filtered"
HTML, then as a "complete archive with a .mht extension)). Basically it
describes how I went about identifying the context for ambiguous link
text on several different pages. In each case, I believe our current
wording of SC 2.4.5 would allow the link text as it appears in the pages
I visited (though the pages may fail other SC). 

The questions are:
(1) Do the instances I describe actually pass SC 2.4.5 *as it is
currently written*?
(2) If you think they fail the SC *as currently written*, how would you
explain why they fail?
(3) If you think the instances *pass* the SC *as currently written*, do
you think the SC itself is OK as written, or should "programmatically
associated" descriptions be required? (That is, should we rewrite the SC
so that the instances in the attached document would fail)?

I know everyone's busy. But I'd appreciate any feedback, and I hope this
helps us figure out either better wording for the SC itself or a more
sharply defined sufficient technique.

John



"Good design is accessible design." 
John Slatin, Ph.D.
Director, Accessibility Institute
University of Texas at Austin
FAC 248C
1 University Station G9600
Austin, TX 78712
ph 512-495-4288, f 512-495-4524
email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu
web http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/