Pictorial Guidelines [was Re: Bricks

Re the discussion of whether the guidelines can be presented in a less
text-heavy way.  

On the one hand, personally, I think that the present format was necessary
to define the requirements concisely and completely.

On the other hand, I can see it's tough going for novices, whether or not
they have reading disabilities.  I've needed to explain the guidelines to
students who have virtually no background in computers, let alone HTML.  At
least some of the guidelines can be discussed more pictorially.  Here's
some slides I did. Lots of pictures, few words.  It's an unfair comparison
since the slides aren't self contained: they accommpany my talking. Still I
think it illustrates how more pictures can be brought in. Also, it wouldn't
take that many extra words.


Alt text is introduced at
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/cs-web/alt.html

The sound of a page without alt text can be heard  at
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/cs-web/noalt.html

Actual dialog boxes (from AOL Press and Front Page) used to add ALT text
are shown in 
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/cs-web/althowto.html

ALT text guidelines are shown via example in
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/cs-web/guidelines.html

As you've no doubt guessed, the whole talk is at
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/cs-web/

It's pretty pictorial throughout. the "cs" in the url doesn't mean
"computer science".  It means "collaborative studies", a program in
assistive technology for people who generally are technology newbies.

The talk still needs work, especially when I got to discussing how to make
sure tables read sensibly row by row.

Len


-------
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Universal Design Engineer, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering
Temple University

Ritter Hall Annex, Room 423, Philadelphia, PA 19122
kasday@acm.org        
(215} 204-2247 (voice)
(800) 204-7428 (toll free voice, ask for tranfer to my line).
(800) 750-7428 (TTY)

Received on Monday, 21 June 1999 17:17:06 UTC