Re: choosing description language Re: review of section 5

        Reply to:   RE>choosing description language Re: review of section 5

The SMIL presentation Charles mentions below is available at ftp.wgbh.org/incoming/ncam.  Download CAR.ZIP.  This is a recently uploaded clip that makes use of the <switch> element of SMIL.  After you unzip the file, you can see and hear captions and descriptions in English, Spanish and German by doing the following:

1.  Open the Options Menu
2.  Choose Preferences
3.  Choose the Content tab
4.  Choose English, Spanish or German from the language menu
5.  Turn on the enable captions option at the bottom of the window.

Note that while you'll see and hear captions and descriptions in the language of your choice, the program audio will always be in English (at least, for the time being).

Let me know if you have questions.

Geoff Freed
Project Manager, Web Access Project
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
WGBH Educational Foundation
geoff_freed@wgbh.org

--------------------------------------
Date: 2/24/99 12:10 PM
To: Geoff Freed
From: Charles McCathieNevile
It would seem more sensible to make the checkpoint: allow user to select
language(s) [p1] as part of ensuring accessibility in the tool as a whole.

The only accessible SMIL presentation I have ever seen includes audio,
captions and descriptions, available in english, spanish, and german. It
explains a piece of relativity theory, and is actually very cool.

Charles McCN

On Wed, 24 Feb 1999, James Allan wrote:

  my comments preceded by ja:
  ja: In reviewing section 5 for SMIL/multimedia accessibility I had one major
  question.
  
  Is a plugin (SMIL player, shockwave, insert your favorite plugin here...) a
  user agent?
  
  I have always assumed that a plugin was a user agent and would conform to
  user interface accessibility as well as other appropriate guidelines. But,
  the UA guidelines do not specifically address this point.
  
  5.1.10 [Priority 1]
  Allow the user to control the position of captions.
  
  ja: Captions are not one size fit all, in addition to caption placement
  there is a need for
  
  	5.1.10.1 [Priority 1]
  	Allow the user to override font family of the caption.
  	5.1.10.2 [Priority 1]
  	Allow the user to override font size of the caption.
  	5.1.10.3 [Priority 1]
  	Allow the user to override foreground color of the caption.
  	5.1.10.4 [Priority 1]
  	Allow the user to override background color of the caption.
  
  5.2.6 [Priority 1]
  Allow the user specify that captions for video be rendered at the same time
  as the video.
  
  ja: Similar to audio tracks, captions may be available in different
  languages. There is a need for
  
  	5.2.x [Priority 1]
  	Allow the user to choose from among available caption tracks.
  
  5.2.7 [Priority 2]
  Allow the user specify that audio descriptions of video be rendered at the
  same time as the video.
  
  ja: In discussion with the folks a WGBH, it was recommended that this
  checkpoint be changed to a Priority 1. Scenario-video showing professor
  writing complex equations and graphs on the overhead and discussing them but
  not describing what he/she actually wrote on the overhead. Without
  description this would be inaccessible to people with visual impairments.
  This could be generalize to any video presentation of visually rich or
  complex information where the visually presented information is critical to
  the understanding of the presentation.
  
  ja: additionally, there may also be description tracks in different
  languages, there is no evidence of this yet so a Priority 2 is recommended.
  So there is a need for
  
  	5.2.x [Priority 2]
  	Allow the user to choose from among available audio description tracks.
  
  
  Jim Allan, Statewide Technical Support Specialist
  Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
  voice 512.206.9315    fax: 512.206.9453  http://www.tsbvi.edu/
  "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." McLuhan, 1964
  
  

--Charles McCathieNevile            mailto:charles@w3.org
phone: +1 617 258 0992   http://purl.oclc.org/net/charles
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative    http://www.w3.org/WAI
MIT/LCS  -  545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139,  USA


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