Re: Cross platform support

This is a sticky issue.

A standard needs to compete in the marketplace of ideas and if it is 
good/useful enough developers will adopt and implement.  In the extreme, 
a good useful standard should be implemented on every platform. 
Unfortunately the definition of "good/useful enough" is a morass that 
defies most logical constructs. Generally what standards are supported 
on what platforms is determined by a political, financial and, once in a 
while, technical evaluation process. To dive into that realm as part of 
a standards definition may be shaking hands with the proverbial tar baby.

I would also be concerned about negative connotations. Statements in a 
standard to the effect of "All major platforms should implement this" 
seems a bit self defeating. It's like a menu at a restaurant saying they 
only use "fresh clean vegetables" (yes, I know one that did this). 
Stating the obvious or expected can bring it into doubt.

Chris Blouch

gv@trace.wisc.edu wrote:
> One of the comments on the last draft read as follows
>
>  
>
> 1.      The Conformance section does not address the question of which
> platforms need to be supported. If something only runs on one platform, what
> determines if it is accessible? What if the plug-in required for viewing it
> does not support Linux?
>
>  
>
> This is an interesting issue.   Cross-platform issues of course are not
> accessibility issues themselves.   But if people must work within particular
> platforms for some reason - and content only works with access tools on
> other platforms,  then it would be.  
>
>  
>
> What are people's thoughts about whether WCAG should be requiring
> multi-platform support.  And if so - which platforms (and which versions of
> the platform)?
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Thanks 
>
>  
>
>
> Gregg
>
> ------------------------
>
> Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. 
> Professor - Depts of Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
> Director - Trace R & D Center 
> University of Wisconsin-Madison 
> < <http://trace.wisc.edu/> http://trace.wisc.edu/> FAX 608/262-8848  
>
> DSS Player at http://tinyurl.com/dho6b 
>
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Received on Friday, 10 August 2007 14:26:38 UTC