Re: Linking to binary URLs

to follow up on what Brian Kelly said:

>      I wasn't really intending to comment on the WAI guidelines so much as
> the resources provided by the WAI community including contributions to
> mailing lists.  When I view the mail archive on the web URLs are converted
> to links - so arguably you shouldn't give URLs for binary files.  I
> understand that the W3C don't want to be seen advising people what they
> should do in email, but I think it's useful for people interested in WAI
> issues to be aware of the implications of typing in something like binary
> URLs (e.g. http://dodgysite.com/delete.exe) - see
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/1998JulSep/ to see what
> happens.

Agreed.  It is [universal, not just disability access] better
practice to cite a distribution site start page or something that
will invoke the README for the context where the binary is
available.  That way, if there are alternatives available, you
learn about them when you follow the reference.  Without having
to back up and snoop around with URL hacking tricks.

> (BTW It's just occured to me that using a tool like Bobby
> across the web archive of this message could / should give an
> accessibility warning - with the obvious implications of what
> is a website, and can accessibility checked be turned off for
> certain areas).

Two examples of things for which there is currently no way to do
a Bobby-like automatic check:

	- what is a site?

	- your original point corresponding to the C.1 guideline.

But I think it is better to read the Bobby results with a grain
of salt than to skip whole patches of Web because they contain
uncheckable features -- it [mostly] all does.

Al

Received on Wednesday, 23 September 1998 16:11:38 UTC