Kynn's Last Call Comments on CSS TV Profile 1.0

These comments address 15 May 2002 working draft, at
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css-tv-20020515

Issue #1:

I am very confused and troubled by the complete redefinition of the
TV media in this document, compared to the CSS 2 definition.  In
CSS 2, it states quite clearly (emphasis mine):

      tv
           Intended for televsion-type devices (low resolution, color,
           limited-scrollability screens, SOUND AVAILABLE)

Under media groups, tv is defined as "visual, AURAL", unlike screen
which is "visual."

Television is universally understood to be a true multimedia medium,
combining video and audio.

However, the proposed TV profile does not acknowledge this. All aural
properties are unsupported in this profile, and aural values likewise
are unsupported.

In addition wrongly identifying the tv medium, ignoring the audio
aspects in this profile while accentuating only the visual will
further relegate aural styles to the realm of "nice idea, never
implemented beyond emacspeak." This can and will prove to be a
detriment to users with visual disabilities.

This draft should be sent back and rewritten to reflect the
multimedia nature of the tv media type, as noted in CSS 2.

Issue #2:

Section 6 of the proposal states that:

      4.  The TV-UA SHALL support author originating style sheets.
          The TV-UA MAY support user or user-agent originating
          style sheets.

User and user-agent style sheets are essential to ensuring equal
access to CSS-based documents by people with disabilities, and are
a critical part of the cascade. The word MAY should be replaced by
SHALL.

--Kynn Bartlett

(A copy of this is being sent to the WAI Protocols and Formats
working group due to the disability access concerns raised, although
I am not writing as a representative of that working group.)

-- 
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                 http://kynn.com
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain            http://idyllmtn.com
Next Book: Teach Yourself CSS in 24       http://cssin24hours.com
Kynn on Web Accessibility ->>          http://kynn.com/+sitepoint

Received on Thursday, 23 May 2002 16:42:54 UTC