Re: techniques for author-defined UI controls

aloha, jon!

thank you for your reasoned and insightful commentary on my first draft of
techniques for author-defined UI controls...  while i acknowledge that there
are definite differences between HTML4 event handlers and ACCESSKEY, the bottom
line is that both are author-defined UI controls, over which the user MUST be
granted some modicum of control, else the user agent ceases to be the user's
agent...

the main difference, i suppose, between TABINDEX and ACCESSKEY and the other
author-defined UI control mechanisms i cited (ActiveX, JavaScript, applets,
HTML4 event handlers) is that the user agent CAN quite easily exert the user's
will (expressed via his or her preferences or options or configuration file)
when it encounters the ACCESSKEY and TABINDEX attributes -- something which is
less clear-cut when dealing with HTML4 event handlers (despite the presence of
checkpoints 9.3, which i think is under-prioritized at P2), as well as with
scripts and applets (checkpoint 3.7, which only allows the user to toggle
between "run applets and scripts" and "do not run applets and scripts")

as an end user, i would also welcome more control over HTML4 events, especially
those for which there aren't native keyboard equivalents, such as OnMouseOver
and the like, and i firmly believe that any such control should be part of the
user agent's functionality, but that's not the impression that i get when
reviewing checkpoints 5.3 through 5.6 -- at least as they are now expressed in
the 29 October WG draft and as they are explicated in the 29 October techniques
document...  and, i'm still not sure whether or not checkpoints 7.4 and 7.5
apply to the full gamut of author-supplied UI controls that i outlined in my
proposal -- and, if they do (as i believe they should), i'm not sure we've
fully thought through the "how", although i suppose that that is an issue that
developers will have to address, in order to comply with GL1, especially
checkpoint 1.3

gregory
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He that lives on Hope, dies farting
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
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Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
   WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
        <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
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Received on Wednesday, 3 November 1999 12:05:29 UTC