persistent QA problems with the W3C Validator

in september 2001, in a post to www-validator@w3.org, archived at:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-validator/2001JulSep/0516.html
i requested that the following accessibility/useability features be 
implemented in the new W3C validator format

1) add explicit LABELs to the FORM controls; also replicate the LABEL 
text using the "title" attribute ("alt" for SELECT) for each form control 
-- this will represent an enormous accessibility gain;

2) add a "Results" link in the "Jump to" bar, that takes one directly to 
the results, so that i, and other speech-output users don't have to listen 
to the form in order to ascertain whether or not the page has any errors 
(especially useful for those of us who put auto-validation links on our 
pages);

3) using an asterisk as hyperlink text is tantamount to using ASCII art
as a hyperlink - at the VERY least, please add a "title" to the following 
link:
	<a href="#sp-lim">*</a>
suggested title: <a href="#sp-lim" title="Caveat">*</a>

although these 3 requests were placed on the validator's "immediate to-do list", to date, absolutely NO action has been taken on any of these requests, which are -- compared to actual validation code fixes -- trivial, and SHOULD, nay, MUST be implemented as soon as possible, if the W3C is to have any credibility with the wider world...  how so? as you may or may not be aware, there is an entire domain of the W3C devoted exclusively to accessibility issues, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) -- it is incumbent upon the W3C Validator, therefore, to comply to (at the very, VERY least) to level double-A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG - http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag10), although i would prefer if W3C shot for the highest level of compliance, Triple-A (explanation of compliance 
levels can be found in WCAG)

the failure of the validator team to address these issues is, therefore, not only inexplicable, but an insult to the work of the WAI and the W3C on accessibility issues, not to mention a slap in the face to users of the validator...  

please address these issues as soon as possible -- thank you,
gregory j. rosmaita (who is not subscribed to this list)
------------------------------------------------------------------
             He that lives upon Hope, dies Farting. 
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1736
------------------------------------------------------------------
             Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net
     Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html
UBATS - United Blind Advocates for Talking Signs: http://ubats.org
------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------
Email sent using AnyEmail from http://www.hicom.net

Received on Thursday, 6 June 2002 21:05:29 UTC