Re: In WCAG NEXT let's put a date field on failures

On 01/05/2016 20:24, Wayne Dick wrote:
> Gregg,
> This is conceptual, not literal. The underlying domain of discourse is
> written language. It has protocols that transcend representational
> technology.
>
> Headings, lists, special fonts for emphasis, labels, form boxes and
> external references all predate HTML technology. They are elements of
> written language. They existed long before computers.
>
> Mark-up language was a technological leap that gave these semantic
> structures a machine representation that was independent of
> presentation, and thus identifiable by computer parsing technology (low
> degree, polynomial time, programmatic determinism).
>
> No matter what technology you use for written language (paper, braille,
> markup language, procedural content) you will find these constructs.
> Perhaps other technologies use different names, but they must have these
> constructs if they want to be a communication tool for human writing.
> WCAG's job is to select neutral yet understandable terminology to
> describe the elements of written language that must separate meaning
> from presentation when they are represented on a computer.

Unless I'm mistaken, platforms like Flash, Silverlight, native apps (on 
desktop and mobile) don't have a concept that of "headings". It may be 
true that to convey the meaning of "written language", but as soon as 
you move beyond document-centric and more application-centric 
situations, these things can get pretty blurry.

P
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Sunday, 1 May 2016 19:39:53 UTC