Re: Updated UA working draft

Jon Gunderson wrote:
> 
> I have updated the working draft and issues pages.  Please review and
> comment.
> Especially the action item group members from the last telecon.
> Jon
> 
> New working draft:
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-WAI-USERAGENT-19980814.html

>Section 4.1
>2.[PRIORITY 1]
>      Allow user to turn off blinking text generated by 
>non-standard HTML tags link "blink". The text 
>should be rendered as visible text. 

I propose that the guideline read: 
  "Allow users to turn off blinking text. The text should be rendered as
visible text."

First, I think that mention of non-standard HTML elements should be
avoided when possible. Second, CSS1 allows a blinking effect
('text-decoration: blink') and I suspect that the guideline would want
UAs to turn off this blinking as well.

>Section 4.3
>2.[PRIORITY 1]
>      When an IMG element has a value for the "longdesc" attribute and >the user has turned off the display of images, give the user access to >the long description. 

Shouldn't the user (or at least some users) have access even if the
images are turned on?

>The LONGDESC should be rendered as a link with a "D" caption after the >short description provided by "alt" or "title". The link should act as >a standard link.

Because the longdesc is not rendered inline, I propose instead: 

        "Access to the long description should be provided through a 
        link. The link text should be the value of the 
        "alt" or "title" attribute followed by
        the letter "D"."

>If images are turned on, the image becomes one of the links that can >be accessed through keyboard navigation. Since IMG can also be part >of anchors a separate keyboard command is needed to select the URL >associated with "longdesc". 

The meaning of this is unclear to me. If a link to the
long description is rendered in the document (as a standard
link), why would there be any need to treat it, or the
IMG element that engendered it, specially? Do the last
few sentences of  the guideline only apply when the 
IMG is the content of an A element. I'm not sure I understand
the meaning here. Finally, perhaps these sentences should
be moved elsewhere since the guideline specifically
says "when the user has turned off the display of images."

>Section 4.4
>3.[PRIORITY 1]
>      Allow the user to suspend timer based animations as the result >of DTML timer scripting events. Users with some disabilities may not >be able to follow the animation or the animation may 
>trigger seizures.

I propose dropping "as the result of DHTML timer scripting events."
Also, what is a "timer-based animation"? Does the guideline
refer to all animations or only certain ones?

>Section 4.6
I think guidelines 2 and 3 need fixing. 

- The examples are too long (though useful). I propose
  an appendix where table serialization is discussed.

- The guidelines are the same, but two types of tables are
  discussed (those with header info and those without,
  the latter more likely to be used for layout). The
  guideline should just be: "Allow the user to select
serialized          representation of table by row or column order."
Then,
  the two cases can be discussed in the prose.

- Guideline 3 reads "A table that includes "TH" tags indicates
  that the table is being used for data rendering and that row
and        column position are important for understanding the
information."

  What about people who use TH to get a style effect, like bold
  text?
  
- The two guidelines have been created from one, but some
  information has not been pruned during editing. Namely,
  the statemetn "Users should be able to specify whether 
  they want the cells rendered row order or column order." 
  should be removed. Also, the Note (Table serialization 
  is important for tables used to structure tabular 
  information as well as those used to lay out blocks 
  of information.) should be removed since both cases
  are to be explored explicitly.

>4. "Try again feature allow the use ..."

  This guideline seems redundant since the previous
  serialization guidelines refer to allowing the user
  to choose from among serialization approaches. I propose
  that this guideline be dropped. However, more information
  about serialization alternatives might be provided
  in the previous guidelines.


>6.4 Direct Access Navigation
>    1.[PRIORITY 1]
>      Allow the current page to be searched using keyboard commands >for a given phrase. If the search text is found, the selection should >be moved to the occurrence. If the text occurs within an
>link, the focus should be changed to the anchor. 
>    2.[PRIORITY 2]
>      Allow only the text associated with links (including ALT text >for images that are links) on the current page to be searched using >keyboard commands for a given phrase. If the search text is
>found, the focus should be moved to the occurrence. 
>    5.[PRIORITY 2]
>      Allow the user to use the keyboard to move the selection >directly to elements by searching for text matches that includes ALT >text, TITLE text and LONDESC text in the search. 
>    6.[PRIORITY 3]
>      User option to include the text contents of LONGDESC links to be >included in text searches of the current page. If the search text is >found in a LONGDESC link, the focus should be changed to
>the LONGDESC link on the current page. 

I think these four guidelines should be harmonized (among themselves,
and with the wording of the adjacent guidelines). I propose:

1.[PRIORITY 1]
      Allow the user to use the keyboard to perform a text search of the
current page. If the search text is found, the selection should be set
to the matched text. If the text occurs within a
link, the focus should be moved to the link.
    2.[PRIORITY 2]
      Allow the user to use the keyboard to perform a text search of
link text only on the current page. Link text includes the content of A
elements and "alt" values for images used as links. If
the search text is found, the focus should be moved to the link.

Numbers 5 and 6 should be combined:

5.[PRIORITY 3]
Allow the user to use the keyboard to perform a text search only of
values of the "alt" and "title" attributes, and within documents
designed by "longdesc" attributes. If the search
text is found, the selection should be set to the matched text. However,
if the search text is in an external document, the focus 
should move to the "longdesc" link on the current page designating that
document.

- Ian

-- 
Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org) 
Tel/Fax: (212) 684-1814 
http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs

Received on Friday, 14 August 1998 15:56:19 UTC