D-tags, etc.

I agree with Larry--
except that rather than defining an uncountable number of languages of the
form
blind-english, low-vision-english, ...
the "special need" should be a separate axis that takes values and can be
specified by the user agent, e.g. the WWW browser, just as the language is a
separate acix.

The protocol at the server end should map <special-need>_<language> to the
appropriate type of content.
Larry Goldberg writes:
 >                        Subject:                               Time:3:03 PM
 >   OFFICE MEMO          D-tags, etc.                           Date:5/20/97
 > 
 > Here is a view on the D-tag discussion from one of WGBH's web authors:
 > 
 > "The latest version of the HTTP standard (1.1) allows browsers to send an ordered lists of language preferences when they request a page from a server. If the server has content in the language at the top of the list, it will respond in that language. If not, it will try the next language in the list, and so on.
 > 
 > Currently, only the Apache server supports HTTP 1.1 and as far as I know, none of the browsers are using it yet either.
 > 
 > The solution(s) presented in the first message seem unnecessarily complex. It would be inefficient to send that much text data for every image on the page when all users (vision-impaired or not) are only interested in one version of the data. In addition, the REL attribute and the FIG tag have been around for quite a while, but no browsers have implemented them -- they may be a dead-end street.
 > 
 > It seems like the ideal solution would be to have additional languages defined, such as "vision-impaired-english" and "hearing-impaired-spanish," that would be set by the user in his or her browser. Servers would then respond in the most appropriate "language" without sending redundant information."
 > 
 > 
 > - Larry
 > 
 > Larry Goldberg, Director
 > Media Access
 > WGBH Educational Foundation
 > 125 Western Ave.
 > Boston, MA  02134
 > 617-492-9258 (voice/TTY)
 > fax 617-782-2155
 > Internet:  Larry_Goldberg@WGBH.org
 > 

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      Adobe Systems                 Tel: 1 (408) 536 3945   (W14-129)
      Advanced Technology Group     Fax: 1 (408) 537 4042 
      (W14 129) 345 Park Avenue     Email: raman@adobe.com 
      San Jose , CA 95110 -2704     Email:  raman@cs.cornell.edu
      http://labrador.corp.adobe.com/~raman/raman.html (Adobe  Internal)
      http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/raman.html  (Cornell)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own and in no way should be taken
as representative of my employer, Adobe Systems Inc.
____________________________________________________________

Received on Tuesday, 20 May 1997 15:18:37 UTC