Re: (Action) Issue 387: Proposed revision to checkpoint 8.4

This seems to be on the right track. Maybe we should provide the HTML labels
as minimal conformance requirements?

Chaals

On Sat, 6 Jan 2001, Ian Jacobs wrote:

  Hello,

  At the 28 November teleconference [1], I received
  an action item to propose a new checkpoint 8.4 as part of
  resolving issue 387 [2]. In the 29 December 2000 draft [3],
  checkpoint 8.4 is:

  <OLD>
  8.4 Make available to the user an "outline" view of content, composed
  of labels for important structural elements (e.g., heading text, table
  titles, form titles, etc.). For discussion about what constitutes the
  set of important structural elements, please refer to checkpoint
  7.6. [Priority 2]

     Note: This checkpoint is meant to allow the user to simplify the
     view of content by hiding some content selectively. For example,
     for each frame in a frameset, provide a table of contents composed
     of headings (e.g., the H1 - H6 elements in HTML) where each entry
     in the table of contents links to the heading in the document. This
     checkpoint does not require that the outline view be navigable, but
     this is recommended; refer to checkpoint 7.6. For those elements
     that do not have associated text titles or labels, the user agent
     should generate a brief text label (e.g., from content, the element
     type, etc.).
  </OLD>

  The reviewer's question was:

        "Does the current HTML/XML/? spec and language provide
        mechanisms authors can use (and UAs can refer to) to provide
        the information called for in this checkpoint or are they on
        their own to figure how they provide (author) and where to go
        to get this info (UA)?

  I suggest the following:

  1) We define "label" to mean a short description of some other content.

  2) We state that format specifications specify which elements or
  attributes
     are labels. For instance, in HTML:
      a) CAPTION is a label for TABLE
      b) "title" is a label for many elements.
      c) H1-H6 are labels for content that follows
      d) LABEL is a label for form control
      e) LEGEND is a label for a set of form controls
      f) TH is a label for a row/column of cells
      g) TITLE is a label for the document.

  3) We state that the outline be allowed to include non-text labels.
     (Whether the rendered outline ultimately consists of text or non-text
      may depend on user preferences.)

  4) We do not require the user agent to generate labels (i.e.,
     if some content doesn't have a label per a format specification,
     then that content needn't have an entry in the outline view.

  Here is the proposed checkpoint. This version also takes into
  account resolutions related to issue 352 [4] (about improving
  the cross-reference to checkpoint 7.6).

  <NEW>
  8.4 Make available to the user an "outline" view of content, composed
  of labels for important structural elements (e.g., heading text, table
  titles, form titles, etc.).

     Note: This checkpoint is meant to provide the user with a
     simplified view of content (e.g, a table of contents). What
     constitutes a label is defined by a markup language specification.
     For example, in HTML, a heading (H1-H6) is a label for the section
     that follows it, a CAPTION is a label for a table, the "title"
     attribute is a label for its element, etc.
     A label is not required to be text only.
     For important elements that do not have associated labels,
     user agents may generate labels for the outline view.
     For information about what constitutes the set of
     important structural elements, please refer to the Note following
     checkpoint 7.6. By making the
     outline view navigable, it is possible to satisfy this checkpoint
     and checkpoint 7.6 together: Allow users to navigate among the
     important elements of the outline view, and to navigate from a
     position in the outline view to the corresponding position in a
     full view of content.
  </NEW>

  Also, add to the techniques the list of HTML labels cited above.

   - Ian

  [1]
  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000OctDec/0354.html
  [2] http://server.rehab.uiuc.edu/ua-issues/issues-linear-lc2.html#387
  [3] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20001229
  [4] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/2000/11/minutes-20001116#issue-352



-- 
Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative                      http://www.w3.org/WAI
Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
until 6 January 2001 at:
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Received on Saturday, 6 January 2001 14:11:02 UTC