Re: Accessibility Question Concerning HTML Navigation

Donna,

Thank you for your support!  

In dealing with text-only pages, the working group felt that a text-only
page should only be used as a "last resort" because of the issues that you
are facing.  Instead, we suggest that you make your graphical pages as
accessible as possible.   This does not mean replacing all graphics with
text.  Rather, provide text equivalents for graphics (as discussed in
Guideline 1).

Are you unable to make the graphical/primary pages accessible?  If so, then
this is the only reason for providing a whole text-only site.

Browsers do not yet deal with media types (that I am aware of).  In the
future, this will be an interesting solution.  

let me know if you have further questions,
--wendy

At 05:12 PM 5/20/99 , you wrote:
>In reviewing the W3C document, "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0"
>(May 5 version) I noticed that you were listed as one of the editors.  I am
>seeking suggestions for a solution to an accessibility issue I am having on
>my web site and decided to write to you.
>
>I am a technical professional and work as a systems architect for AT&T.  On
>the side, I am also webmaster for the IDEAL (Individuals with Disabilities:
>Enabling Advocacy Link) web site.  IDEAL is a business resource group within
>AT&T and sponsored by AT&T for its employees.  Our web site is on the AT&T
>intranet, behind our firewall.  
>
>Needless to say, this web site must be accessible in every aspect.  I have
>provided both graphical and text-only versions of the web pages throughout
>the site.  However, I have encountered a backward navigation issue that I
>can't find an elegant way to solve with current technology.  Maintaining two
>versions of every web page in the site is difficult at best, but that is
>what I am currently doing.  I have web pages that are, by their nature,
>text-only anyway.  Technically I don't need to create a text-only version of
>these pages.  However, when a user is viewing such a page and decides to
>navigate back to a previous page it presents a dilemma for me. Since I don't
>know which page version (graphical or text-only) of the previous page the
>user had been viewing, I don't know which page version to bring up.
>
>I noticed in the HTML 4.0 specifications document on the W3C site that there
>is some help coming to eliminate the need for text-only pages.  I hope I am
>interpreting the document correctly.  I am referring specifically to the
>"media" types and the rules that can be based off them (e.g., media=aural,
>media=print, ...).  I don't, however, think that user agents are currently
>architected to set their behaviors from these media types as I believe this
>is a new feature.  I am guessing that it will be a year or two until we see
>robust implementations for this feature.  Is that a correct assumption?
>
>The HTML media feature is certainly the elegant solution I am looking for!
>But, do you have any suggestions for ways to solve this issue in the
>interim?  Several of us have thought about using "cookies" that are
>temporary for each user session and would contain a parameter that would
>indicate which page version a user has selected.  I could interrogate the
>cookie each time I need to make a navigational decision.  We also thought
>about using "hidden fields" and passing a parameter from page to page that
>would give the navigational choice.  But, these solutions are a bit clumsy.
>
>I want to come up with the best solution possible for now because I have a
>lot of other webmasters within AT&T asking me for my suggestions on how to
>handle text-only design.    
>
>I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have.  I have been
>fascinated with the accessibility work of the W3C team and I applaud your
>efforts.  I have attention deficit disorder and a sensory hearing problem.
>I love the guidelines that help address my issues.  Thank you for all your

>hard work.    
>
>Donna F. Ronco
>AT&T Solutions/ITS
>407-805-4714
> 
wendy chisholm
human factors engineer
trace research and development center
university of wisconsin - madison, USA

Received on Monday, 24 May 1999 13:02:16 UTC