Comments from Arkenstone on the User Agent guidelines

     Version commented on: 19981112
     
     We were asked to comment especially on LD issues.
     
     Learning disability feedback from one of our educational specialists:
     
     "The features that are imperative for the LD user are bi-modal 
     (obviously) and ALL the items beginning on page 9 under: section 4 - 
     The user agent must render information accessibly.  This document 
     fails to include Learning Disabled, specifically the dyslexic in their 
     initial summary at the beginning of the section, when indeed all of 
     these are issues for LD individuals. Although LD is included in the 
     following sections, I would suggest you add this population, under 
     Section 4 on page 9." 
     
     Suggested language, appended to the first paragraph of Section 4:
     
     "Learning disabled users, such as people with dyslexia, may prefer 
     bi-modal presentation of information in both text and auditory form."
     
     
     Other Comments from Jim Fruchterman:
     
     Section 2.5: "... rely on the visual output of another user agent."
     
     I recommend dropping the "visual." With respect to screen readers, 
     this perpetuates the view that disabled people only want access to the 
     visual information on the screen.  That's often not correct, although 
     in the case of screen magnifiers I'll concede the point.  For example, 
     MSAA with IE is reasonably useless to Arkenstone because our lower 
     functioning clients would be totally boggled by getting access to the 
     visual information.  They want access to the information itself.  
     Often giving access to what a sighted person would see is partial 
     access, such as when the window cuts off information that isn't known 
     to be off to the "right" of the visible screen.
     
     Section 4.2
     
     What about providing access to the links underlying image map pages? 
     
     Section 5.2
     
     5.1.1, .2, .3 etc.  The list of information provided could go on, such 
     as the number of images, headings, etc. This subset seems like a good 
     starting point, but I wasn't sure why they were cut off after only 
     three priority 1s?
     
     Good luck with this important work!  I think we had few comments 
     because the document is in admirable shape.
     
     Jim
     
        Jim Fruchterman                      jim@arkenstone.org 
        President                            Arkenstone, Inc. 
        NASA Ames Moffett Complex, Bldg 23   1-800-444-4443 
        P.O. Box 215                         1-650-603-8880   
        Moffett Field, CA 94035-0215 USA     Fax: 1-650-603-8887
        http://www.arkenstone.org            TDD: 1-800-833-2753 
        Arkenstone is a nonprofit organization with the motto:   
                   "Information Access for Everyone!"

Received on Saturday, 9 January 1999 21:03:32 UTC