[css3-reader] Comments on the WD (2004.02.24)

The 'reader' media type seems to require rewriting a stylesheet which,  
most probably, combines 'screen' or 'handheld' with 'speech'.

The proposed 'reader' would be a result of too diverse scenarios, as to be  
able to fit it under one roof - 'reader' could be:
screen + speech
projection + speech
handheld + speech
tv + speech
(to which could/should be added tactile media types)

'screen', 'projection', 'handheld' and 'tv' are mutually exclusive, as  
they all use the same channel (or canvas), but 'speech' (and 'braille')  
has its own channel. To have a 'reader' stylesheet actually would rather  
mean to have a collection of 'reader' stylesheets that mostly would be  
summing up the various combinations of eventually already served sheets -  
the 'screen', 'projection', 'handheld', 'tv' and 'speech' sheets,  
respectively. It gives me the feeling of being somhow redundant.

Joe Clark original posting on www-style <URL:  
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2003Oct/0328.html> touches  
one true point:
--- start quote ---
The current CSS media types do not describe real-world screen-reader usage
--- quote end ---

Rather than creating a new media type, I would, as proposed in a different  
thread <URL:  
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2004Jul/0218.html>, re-model  
the definition of media types to explicitly allow the simultaneous use of  
types belonging different 'modes'. I quote from the other thread:

--- start quote ---
There is three modes, 'visual', 'aural' and 'tactile'.

The visual mode can be sub-classified in dynamic (handheld,  
projection,screen, tty or tv) and static (print) channels.
There is only one dynamic channel for speech.
The tactile mode can be sub-classified in dynamic (braille) and static  
(embossed) channels.

Thus:

visual   (handheld | projection | screen | tty | tv) & (print)
aural    (speech)
tactile  (braille) & (embossed)

Note:
visual and tactile can have an output on a different channel, which still  
belongs to the same mode: something can be seen on screen and  
simultaneously printed on paper, or touched on braille display and printed  
on paper by a braille printer (embossed).

All media types belonging to one mode and one channel are mutually  
exclusive.
--- quote end ---

Interaction between the modes, as for example a 'karaoke' feature or the  
issue about how an audio resource for { content:url(); } is to be handled  
on screen <URL:  
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2004Aug/0009.html>, indeed  
still needs definition and work.

Regards,
/c

-- 
[Quote]
"He is old". But she is wrong. It is not age; it is that a drop has  
fallen; another drop.
~~~ Virginia Woolf

Received on Friday, 6 August 2004 04:52:53 UTC