Re: DOM events Re: PROPOSAL: User Agent Issue 190:

aloha, charles!

you spoke sooth when you observed:

quote
  2. I think it is perfectly possible to recommend this kind of thing in 
the guidelines. Not only that, I think it is important. A similar case is 
with CSS - Ithink we should say clearly and unambiguously that we recommend 
the CSS2 cascade and NOT the (conflicting) CSS1 cascade - after all, that 
is why we argued so vociferously to change it in CSS2
unquote

this is an excellent point, and one that must not be allowed to fall 
through .the cracks...  i am currently beta testing Opera version 4.0, 
which features (or, at least, will, when it is released) full support for 
CSS levels 1 and 2 (with the CSS2 cascade), and am quite pleased with what 
one can do by using a client-side stylesheet to add pseudo-elemental 
information to links, so that the (a) existence and (b) status (visited or 
unvisited) of links can be discerned when allowing a screen reader to 
SpeakAll when Opera loads a page, or when reviewing the content of a page 
in chunks or line-by-line...  full support for CSS and the CSS2 cascade 
order also endows the user with the ability to add semantic and contextual 
information to lists and list items -- an important consideration, 
considering how disorienting nested lists can be in an exclusively aural or 
tactile environment...

it is heartening (at least to me) that while we continue to work hard at 
getting quote the right stuff unquote into the W3C DOM, as well as broad 
agreement to implement the W3C DOM, that a viable alternative 
exists...  yes, i know that it is, to borrow a phrase from the Americans 
with Disabilities Act, an quote undue burden unquote to fob off 
construction of a personal stylesheet onto individual users, most of whom 
neither know CSS syntax nor care to learn it,  but i am hopeful that,

a) Opera and other GUI browser manufacturers will implement a wizard-type 
step-by-step mechanism that will assist users in constructing their 
personalized stylesheets;

b) that the work that Jim Allan and i are doing in preparing 
pseudo-elemental examples for the UAAG techniques document can be rolled 
into a W3C "core style sheet" -- or, rather, multiple stylesheets, 
featuring varying levels of verbosity, so as to expose: a) the presence of 
links inline; b) extended semantic information about links (visited or 
unvisited); c) extended semantic information about lists and list items -- 
in particular, nested lists;

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 Thursday, 17 February 2000 00:26:31 UTC