presentation comments

Hello,


So far I have 3 comments or suggestions regarding the 
"Presentation Adjustability" section of the browser 
guidelines.

1. The priority ratings appear to be appropriate.

2. A common reference regarding the benefits to users 
with visual impairments and learning disabilities 
appears in several places. I was wondering if it would 
be better to write a more detailed description that 
can be linked to where appropriate. (see [example 
description] below)

3. Without suggesting any specific implementation, are 
there certain features that should be "easier" to 
adjust / toggle than other? The current draft suggests 
having a keyboard/menu command to switch between 
"outline" and "full" view. Would a keyboard or menu 
command to, say for example, toggle between high 
contrast and standard mode be useful? Likewise would 
it be important for the user to be able to switch 
between one set of preferences and other?  Is this 
something that should be discussed in the "visibility" 
section of the guidelines?

Kitch


[example description]

Providing the user with the ability to control the 
visual presentation of web pages should be a high 
priority for all user agents. Presentation control 
will provide improved access to the web for many users 
groups including, individuals with visual impairments 
or learning disabilities, users of assistive 
technology which makes use of display color 
information, users of classroom computers, projection 
systems, laptop computers, public kiosks, and other 
non-traditional user agents. Presentation 
adjustability is also important to users who may not 
be able to sit close to the display device it is also 
important to users who have personal preferences 
regarding the presentation of on-line information. 
Presentation adjustability may also impact the printed 
page.

More specifically, individuals who have low vision or 
color blindness frequently must customize font style, 
sizes and colors in order to improve the readability 
of on-line information or to improve the interaction 
between the user agent and any assistive technology. 
Highlighted text is often used by third party 
assistive technologies to indicate what the user wants 
to read through speech output. Highlighted text can 
also be used by screen readers to indicate the focus 
of what the user is trying to read. Some screen 
readers are sensitive to the highlight colors. Other 
users of assistive technology may wish to control the 
amount of text or information that appears on their 
display by adjusting the font size and style. Again, 
screen reader users may which to use small font sizes 
in order to fit more text on the screen.

I am sure there are other examples. Is this of 
any use?

Received on Thursday, 30 April 1998 14:02:46 UTC