Re: Survey for W3C User Agent Guidelines Working Group

Jon,

I'm sorry I just realized you wanted this information early.  Sorry about
that.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to give you much information.  I
have not looked over the DOM specifications.  I started to and realized
there is a ton of information.  At this point all of us at GW are totally
focused on CSUN.  It would take a couple days of my time to really give all
this the time and energy it deserves and I just don't have two free days at
this point.

So I will answer your questions the best I can based on the fact that I
have not read up on all the documentation and specifications.

At 03:46 PM 2/2/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Doug,
>The following survey is being used to help the user agent working group
>understand how the current W3C User Agent Accessibility Guidelines will
>impact assistive technology developers.  The survey is designed to help the
>working group understand the current techniques used by assistive
>technology developers to provide alternative access to web browsers and web
>content.  The survey also helps identify developer knowledge of current W3C
>trechnologies and what resources would be useful in helping to educate and
>support assistive technology developers in using W3C technologies to
>provide improved access to web content to people with disabilities.
>
>1. What techniques do you currently use or plan to use to access and
>process WWW content for alternative or enhanced rendering for people with
>disabilities?

We currently rely on MSAA 1.x.  Unfortunately, 1.x isn't capable of
handling all aspects required to get full interaction with web pages.
Hopefully 2.x will be better suited for these needs.  So we are actually
using a little of the document object model of IE as well as MSAA.

Our current implementation is very good.  But if we are going to be
handling dynamic HTML and other up and coming technologies, we need to work
on improving MSAA.

The only other approach we are using is simply our OSM.  So in Netscape for
example, we can only report what is on the screen which has many problems.

>2. Are you familiar with the W3C Document Object Module (DOM)[1]?

Unfortunately no.

>3. If yes to question 2, are you familiar with APIs you can use to access
>the DOM implementations of current user agents (i.e. Microsoft
>implementation of the DOM in IE 4.0/5.0)?

n/a

>4. If yes to question 2 and 3, do you think the DOM will meet your needs
>for access to WWW content?

n/a

>5. If yes to question 3 and 4, how complex and resource intensive is it to
>use the DOM to access WWW content?

n/a

>6. Indicate which of the following resources would help you in using or
>deciding to use the DOM for accessing WWW content.  Respond to each
>question with a yes, no or don’t know.
>
>6.a. Demonstration code?

ABSOLUTELY!

>6.b. WWW based tutorial materials on DOM capabilities and programming
examples?

Somewhat helpful.

>6.c Face-to-face workshop on DOM capabilities and programming examples?

Probably not.

>6.d Access to people with expertise in DOM capabilities and programming?

Sure.

>6.e Open ended question for you to indicate any other resources that would
>help you?

The best types of resource we can get is GOOD documentation and sample
programs which demonstrate all aspects of DOM.

>7. Could you please review and comment on current version of the W3C Web
>Accessibility Initiative User Agent guidelines [2], especially the
>checkpoints related to Guideline 5: Observe system conventions and standard
>interfaces [3]? 
>
>[1] http://www.w3.org/DOM/
>[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-UAAG10-20000128
>[3] http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-UAAG10-20000128/#gl-accessible-interface

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to devote to this prior to CSUN.

>Please return the survey as soon as possible and e-mail to: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
>
>Thanks for you time and interest in the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines,
>Jon
>
>Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
>Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
>Chair, W3C WAI User Agent Working Group
>Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
>College of Applied Life Studies
>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
>WWW: http://www.w3.org/wai/ua
>
>
>

Doug Geoffray
GW Micro, Inc.
Voice 219-489-3671
Fax 219-489-2608
geoffray@gwmicro.com or doug@gwmicro.com

Received on Wednesday, 16 February 2000 20:20:48 UTC