Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - Checkpoint 10.4

Checkpoint 10.4 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG)
requires that:

Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default,
place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas.

I have never seen a user agent which either:

  * failed to display an empty form control
  * failed to allow users to edit such a control
  * or significantly differentiated between empty and non-empty controls

I am interested to find out if such user agents exist and if so who is using
them since I am actively seeking to satisfy the entire WCAG checklist but
feel that this particular checkpoint is worse than redundant.

My specific concerns are that:

  1) place-holding characters are a nuisance to users without accessibility
issues
  2) such content can actually obscure the function of a control
  3) for many controls there is no sensible textual content to include and
that the inclusion of arbitary text will confuse the user
  4) such text hampers the use of form controls which are intended to remain
empty in most situations
  5) most importantantly users with accessibility difficulties (especially
motor difficulties) will actually be highly inconvenienced by having to
delete such text.

So my two queries are:

How do I lobby for the removal of this checkpoint?
When will an updated version of the WCAG be published?

Thanks.

Tom Gibara

Received on Saturday, 17 August 2002 00:23:36 UTC