RE: Style sheet readability

Tim,

As far colors go, I really don't think they should even be an issue.  If you
have experimented or developed to XHTML then the concept of color within
your actual HTML document does not (should not?) exist, it must all be done
via your CSS.  Thus, with CSS removed the end result *should* be essentially
black text on white (gray?) background, although this is generally up to the
user agent/software owner.  Some tools such as lynx will output black on
grey, in the major contender browsers I believe the default colors re black
and white, although they allow the owner to specify other combinations if
they so choose.  But if the style sheet support is removed, then color as
defined by the content author is nullified.

The Web Design Group (www.htmlhelp.com) offers a couple of little tools they
call WiDGets which extend right-click functionality to IE 5+.  One of the
tools they offer disables style sheets; it's a tool I use all the time.
(Note, it only disables linked or @import style sheets... in-line styles are
not affected)

JF


>
> All-
>
> I wanted to get your opinions on what it really means for a page to be
> readable when style sheets are disabled.   The popular notion is that
> this constraint means that when a page is disabled elements that are on
> the page should be visible to the user - so no black text on a black
> background.   However that constraint would seem to more accurately fall
> under the sufficiency of text color contrast - a priority three item not
> a priority one item.
>
> As far as I can tell there are three broad cases when page content may
> not be "readable" with style sheets disabled.  The first is when content
> is generated on the client side via style sheets such as with the
> 'background-image', 'list-style', or 'content' properties.  The second
> is when structural content is communicated with formatting properties,
> such as 'border', 'border-width' and 'outline', instead of the
> appropriate structural markup.   The third is when positioning
> information is used in the style sheet that causes the page
> linearization to be different than the visual read order of the page.
> Amongst these three cases, however, is not a case that says if font
> color reduces in contrast to an unreadable point than the page is
> "unreadable."  Is this implicit or is a page considered readable as long
> as all the content is there?
>
> Further it is my understanding that readability with style sheets is a
> constraint to ensure that older browsers could access page content.
> Basically it forms a lowest common denominator to ensure accessibility
> of content -- Is this constraint still reasonable and valid given the
> current state of browsers and assistive technology?
>
> Thanks in advance for your opinions!  If possible CC me directly on
> responses so that I can keep a record.
>
> Timothy Stephen Springer
> Director of Client Services
> 415.975.8036
> timsp@ssbtechnologies.com
>
> Lost in the path to compliance with 508?
> Start on the Accessibility Path Today
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-d-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-d-request@w3.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 9:34 AM
> To: w3c-wai-ig-d@w3.org
> Subject: w3c-wai-ig-d Digest V02 #279
>
>

Received on Tuesday, 13 August 2002 18:31:23 UTC