Re: (Action) Issue 448: Proposed modification to Note after checkpoint 5.9 (DOM2 CSS)

Responses in JRG:
At 07:10 PM 1/18/2001 -0500, Ian Jacobs wrote:
>Hello,
>
>At the 18 Jan 2001 teleconf [1], I received an action item pertaining
>to issue 448 [2]. Checkpoint 5.9 in the 16 Jan 2001 draft [3] reads:
>
>     For user agents that implement Cascading
>     Style Sheets (CSS), provide programmatic access
>     to those style sheets by conforming to the CSS module
>     of the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Style
>     Specification [DOM2STYLE] and exporting the interfaces
>     it defines.
>
>The reviewer's question was: Does this checkpoint require
>read/write access?
>
>I conferred with Philippe Le Hegaret (the DOM WG Team contact),
>and here are the facts about the CSS module of the DOM Level 2
>Style Specification [4]:
>
>a) The CSS module does not provide access (read or write)
>    to user style sheets. Apparently, one reason for this decision
>    by the DOM WG involved privacy concerns.
>
>b) The CSS module allows authors to modify author style sheets.
>
>c) The CSS module allows read access (but not write
>    access) to the computed value of a CSS property.

JRG: This is the most important part right now for assistive technology.


>d) The CSS module includes a mechanism called the
>    "override style sheet". This style sheet is part of the
>    cascade (though not defined by the CSS Recommendation). It
>    is used for in-memory modifications to author styles; these
>    style changes are not saved with the DOM tree when it is written.
>
>The two write mechanisms that are available through these
>APIs are intended for authors only. Therefore, I propose:
>
>1) That we make no changes to the checkpoint requirement to
>    implement the DOM 2 Style Recommendation.
>
>2) That we add this text to the Note following the checkpoint:
>
>      User agents should not allow users to modify author
>      style sheets or the override style sheet through the
>      mechanisms of the DOM Level 2 CSS module. Similarly,
>      user agents should not allow authors to modify user
>      style sheets. See checkpoint 4.14 for more information
>      about user control of user style sheets.

JRG: I agree.

Jon

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
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

Received on Friday, 19 January 2001 14:35:11 UTC