Modality Independent Controls

Hi Kim,

On the agenda for today's call was discussing the section in the introduction titled "Modality Independent Controls" (or "Principia"). The consensus on the call is that it doesn't really fit where it ended up, and it's worded too much like normative language. However, we think you were the original champion of including something like this. Would you have thoughts on how we could address the two concerns?

Here is the current text:


          Modality Independent Controls

    Users interacting with a web browser may do so using one or more input methods including keyboard, mouse, speech, touch, and gesture. It's critical that each user be free to use whatever input method or combination of methods works best for a given situation. Therefore every potential user task must be accessible via modality independent controls that any input technology can access.

    For instance, if a user can't use or doesn't have access to a mouse, but can use and access a keyboard, the keyboard can call a modality independent control to activate an OnMouseOver event. See Independent User Interface: Events <http://www.w3.org/TR/indie-ui-events/> for additional information on APIs and techniques for modality independent controls.



     Thanks,
     Greg