Re: (Action) Issue 370: Proposed rewording for checkpoint 7.6 (and Note)

Ian,
This is probably the best we can do on this important issue of defining 
important elements at this time.  I think one of the biggest challenges 
facing the W3C is improving semantic information of markup that can be used 
for identifying important elements for navigation.

Jon


At 10:22 PM 1/5/2001 -0500, Ian Jacobs wrote:
>Hello,
>
>At the AOL ftf meeting, Al and I got an action item for issue
>370 [1] to propose new wording for checkpoint 7.6 to clarify
>that we are not asking authors to mark up "important elements"
>specially, and that which elements are important is part of
>the format itself. Please consider the following proposal
>(which I believe is editorial). Here is the relevant
>excerpt from the 29 December draft [2]:
>
><OLD>
>7.6 Allow the user to navigate efficiently to and among
>important structural elements identified by the author.
>Allow forward and backward sequential navigation to important
>structural elements.
>    Note: This specification intentionally does not
>    identify the set of "important elements" that must be
>    navigable; refer to the Techniques document [UAAG10-TECHS]
>    for information about identifying important elements
></OLD>
>
>For some previous discussion on identification of
>"important elements", refer to this 28 August 2000 email
>from Al [3]. In that email, Al expressed opposition to
>relying on element type alone as the determining factor
>for establishing an element as important. The following
>checkpoint is simpler, but the Note more complete. It
>draws on some of the points raised by Al in his email.
>
><NEW>
>7.6 Allow the user to navigate efficiently to and among
>important structural elements
>    Note: This specification intentionally does not
>    identify which "important elements" must be
>    navigable as this will vary according to markup
>    language. What constitutes "efficient navigation"
>    may depend on a number of factors as well, including
>    the "shape" of content (e.g., serial navigation
>    of long lists is not efficient) and desired granularity
>    (e.g., among tables, then among the cells of a given
>    table). Refer to the Techniques document [UAAG10-TECHS]
>    for information about identifying and navigating
>    important elements.
></NEW>
>
>  - Ian
>
>[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/2000/11/minutes-20001116#issue-370
>[2] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20001229/
>[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000JulSep/0312.html
>--
>Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
>Tel:                         +1 831 457-2842
>Cell:                        +1 917 450-8783

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
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Voice: (217) 244-5870
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Received on Monday, 8 January 2001 09:34:20 UTC