Wish List for XHTML

To: wai-tech-comments@w3.org
From: Eric Hansen
Re: Wish List for XHTML

Al,

I am not very familiar with the XHTML specification but will share with you 
very briefly a short wish list.

Main Objective:

The biggest thing that I would like would be a flexible yet powerful way of 
associating equivalents and their equivalency targets. Ian indicates that 
much of what I am looking for can be provided through RDF and my perusal of 
that specification suggests that this may be the case. It seems to me that 
it would be helpful to have some of the capabilities built into XHTML.

I want to be able to indicate if the equivalency relationship between 
equivalency target, whether the equivalent is required by some 
specification, and if so, the identity of the specification.

I would like to have a container of the equivalency target and another 
container for the equivalent. The equivalent must be able to exist in pieces 
with different URIs. The same would be helpful for the equivalency target.

Secondary Objective:

For each end of the equivalency relationship (Equivalent and Equivalency 
Target), I would like the author to specify the intended audience based on 
the role that content plays in the instruction or information product. For 
example, a sign language video could be for Core (general audiences) if the 
instruction is about sign language videos. ([Core=general audience (a.k.a. 
people without any disability [plus people with disabilities who can 
benefit]) or Supplementary=specifically for people with disabilities).

Other Ideas:

For the equivalency target, I would like to be able to specify the 
presentation type (Classical multimedia, audio-only, video-only, graphic, 
table (etc.), simple text, complex text, etc.)

For the equivalent, I would like to be able to specify the equivalent type 
(text equivalent [and if so what kind], non-text equivalent [and if so what 
kind]).

For any piece, I'd like to be able to specify content type, ideal-disability 
status of audience, base natural language, possibly a script for unwrapping 
the content (if necessary), possibly additional information about how to 
render the content.

Benefits

Basically, the benefit of such capabilities is that they can help the user 
find information he or she is seeking or that is likely to be most 
accessible.

I hope that this is helpful. Please let me know if you have questions.

Best wishes,

- Eric Hansen

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Received on Monday, 9 October 2000 23:32:49 UTC