Authoring web pages via the web: open & browse

A simple interface to enable our users and teachers to create and 
upload webpages to peepo.com, is here: 
http://www.peepo.com/w3/myStarter.html
This is a demonstration only version. please fill in the form and click 
the submit button to see and hear how it works.

I was aware in development that 'browse' was an issue, both in name and 
the inability to provide an image.
And when demonstrating (the working intranet version) yesterday this 
was immediately picked up by management and teachers.


Various contributors have suggested that 'browse' is a user agent issue 
to fit in with the 'standardised' usage across the OS.
I have not been able to find the evidence for this.

The examples that I found in winXP are:


Open	image of a single open folder					this seems identical to 'browse' 
but 'browse' has an 'open' button to select, which is at best a 
confusing duplication.

and also:

Search	with a magnifying glass image					a slightly different activity 
dependent on a keyword, time or other data

Folders	with an image of a few open folders				identical to browse, but 
with a side panel showing current location, and some other local folders

and Mac OSX is not so different finder has a graphic, open file is 
similar in behaviour.....
whereas 'browse' has no associated image, and does not appear similar 
in activity to any non browser activity other than 'open'.

so perhaps 'open' is better, but not as good as a user/author choice.

What other examples can Jukka, David or anyone else provide of OS 
specific text appearing in the browser window?
I cannot think of one, but i don't use forms much, as they are so 
inaccessible to our users, being predominantly text based.

Jukka please dont assume that are users are going to generalise what 
they learn at peepo to the web in general.
For a start the issue of generalising is one they have problems with, 
and secondly how often do you upload via the web.
I would imagine it is a very rare activity indeed at the present time. 
Our users have no suitable means at present, and are unlikely to 
progress to other web based authoring tools that I am aware of.

David I am well aware of your views about my supposed UA designer 
concepts. i have created UA in the past using VB, and have looked at 
the mozilla XUL.
My point is that much of this could be achieved via WCAG, and this 
route provides additional benefits.

This issue may be sufficiently significant and unique for us to make a 
recommendation via WCAG.

Jonathan

Received on Wednesday, 12 March 2003 04:03:05 UTC