Re: Attempt to simplify and harmonize "content display" vs. "chrome" distinction in ATAG2 and UAAG2

Hi all,

Talking with Jeanne the other day she was a bit concerned about the 
length of one of the terms I'm proposing to replace "Content Display" 
and "Chrome".

"CONTENT VIEWS"
"USER INTERFACE EXCLUDING CONTENT VIEWS"

Thinking about it more, maybe we can get around this somewhat in the way 
the terms are used...

we could add an "Applicability" section to both documents modeled on the 
some similar text from the Conformance Profiles section of UAAG 1.0:

PROPOSED TEXT:

Applicability:

In some cases, a success criteria may apply equally well to all aspects 
of the [authoring tool/user agent] user interface, including *content 
views*. However, in other cases it is necessary to remove ambiguity 
about the scope of a success criteria, in which case one of the 
following labels will appear:

- Applies to *content view(s)* only

- Does not apply to *content view(s)*


Thoughts,
Jan









Jan Richards wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Both ATAG2 and UAAG2 often require specific terms to distinguish the 
> part of the user interface that reflects the content being 
> editing/viewed and the part that is the software's own. For some time 
> we've tried using the terms "content display" and "chrome", but "chrome" 
> is especially off-putting for people. Also the fact the "chrome" covers 
> help documentation, which might be HTML pages is also confusing.
> 
> So here's another terminological try (note: [/] denotes AU/UA versions)...
> 
> [AUTHORING TOOL/USER AGENT] USER INTERFACE
> The display and control mechanism that [authors/people] use to 
> communicate with and operate the [authoring tool/user agent] software. A 
> user interface may be non-Web-based or Web-based or a combination (e.g., 
> a non-Web-based [authoring tool/browser] might have on-line help pages). 
> For the purposes of these guidelines, there is an important distinction 
> between (1) *CONTENT VIEW(S)* the accessibility of which often depends 
> to some extent on the content being [edited/rendered, played or 
> executed] and (2) the rest of the [authoring tool/user agent] user 
> interface (referred to as the *USER INTERFACE EXCLUDING CONTENT VIEWS*) 
> the accessibility of which does not depend on the content being 
> [edited/rendered].
> 
> CONTENT VIEW
> The [authoring tool/user agent] user interface functionality that 
> presents content for user interaction. Content views may be 
> distinguished by:
> 
> (1) *Editability*: some content views allow authors to modify the 
> content as displayed (e.g., [an "editing view"/an editable "source 
> view"]), while others do not (e.g., [a "preview" feature/the rendered 
> view typical of browsers, a read-only "source view"]).
> 
> (2) *Nature of rendering*:
> 
> (a) *instruction level content views* present the content
> encoding instructions in non-rendered form (e.g., [plain text editing 
> views, form-based editing views that provide direct access to the 
> instructions such as selecting attribute values/"source view"]).
> 
> (b) *rendered content views* result from fully or partially rendering, 
> playing, or executing the content. The broad range of potential 
> renderings covers conventional (often called "WYSIWYG") renderings to 
> less conventional renderings such as a graphical wavefront of an audio 
> file or the displays of text-only browsers. *Partial renderings* are 
> those in which some aspects of the content are rendered, played, or 
> executed, but not others (e.g., a frame-by-frame video [editor/player] 
> rendering the graphical aspect, but not the temporal aspect, of a video.
> 
> (c) *meta content views* present properties, metadata or other more
> abstract information about the content (e.g., [a content management 
> system that creates a Web-based calendar based on the author selecting 
> only the month and year/a "page properties" feature]).
> 
> USER INTERFACE EXCLUDING CONTENT VIEWS
> All parts of the user interface other than the content view(s). Includes 
> all user interface components that surround, underlie, or superimpose 
> upon content views (e.g., text areas, menus bars, rulers, pop-up context 
> menus) and also other Web content made available to the author/user by 
> the developer of the [authoring tool/user agent] (e.g. help files).
> 
> 
> 
> Any thoughts on "CONTENT VIEW" and "USER INTERFACE EXCLUDING CONTENT 
> VIEWS" as a way forward?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Jan Richards, M.Sc.
User Interface Design Specialist
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
Faculty of Information (i-school)
University of Toronto

   Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
   Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
   Phone: 416-946-7060
   Fax:   416-971-2896

Received on Thursday, 10 July 2008 18:01:18 UTC