RE: Request for review and comment on tables and conformance proposal

Some comments on the tables and conformance proposal:

Checkpoint 6.2.7: [Priority 1]
Provide a means for the user to execute a script at the end of loading
(onload event in HTML 4.0 specification) and document changed (may not be
defined in current W3C standards) events.

I would assume that the assumption, though it is not stated, is that the
script would be in JavaScript.  This rather begs is issue of what this
script is supposed to do.  Is the intent to use the script to reformat the
page in some way so that it is more accessible to legacy technology?
Probably some idea of what sort of reformatting is involved would be
desirable.

If the script is run after each "document changed" event, would that be
triggered by any cyclic graphic or decorative gizmo such as many pages use?
Greg Vanderheiden's "spinning globe" comes to mind.  If the script runs each
time the page changes, even for trivial changes, it could easily make legacy
technology crazy!

One of the things that I think we might have to come to grips with is the
issues of AT devices having to determine what they are talking to in order
to know what to look for.  Having the DOM exposed is fine, provided that an
AT product knows that the thing being looked at is a browser.  Microsoft
Word can open web pages, and display them.  Is it a browser?  Does it expose
the DOM, and does it expose similar information in other documents?  To some
extent, this is not our problem, but for us to recommend a "solution" that
no one can figure out how to use.

On another matter, one of the points that we have been promoting is that the
user can implement a style sheet under CSS, so that there is some local
control over rendering of the document.  However, my reading of the CSS book
says that the priority is for the author stylesheet, the user style sheet,
then the default browser style sheet.  Does this mean that if the author
creates a style sheet, the user's sheet will be over-ridden?  This seems
like a bad idea, from an accessibility point of view.

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Assistant Professor
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake Street
Dallas, PA 18612

RESNA
The International Organization of Assistive Technology Professionals

Member since 1989

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ua-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ua-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of Jon Gunderson
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 12:15 PM
To: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
Subject: Request for review and comment on tables and conformance
proposal


Members of the UA group, please review and comment on the proposal for
tables and conformance posted last friday.  I think this is a critical
issue for the group to resolve, so we can move this document foreward to
recommendation status.  Please take the time to review and respond to the
list.  Look forward to your comments.

Proposal:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/1999JanMar/0073.html

UA List:
w3c-wai-ua@w3.org

Thanks,
Jon

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street
Champaign, IL 61820

Voice: 217-244-5870
Fax: 217-333-0248
E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu
WWW:	http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
	http://www.als.uiuc.edu/InfoTechAccess