RE: DHTML and accessibility

Hello Dominique,

Tables also often cause that problem - text running 'awry' when font sizes
are changed by the user. However, if the CSS positioning is assembled
properly, and font sizes are set in 'ems' or '%', then you provide the most
flexibility for your users.

By all means establish you default appearance for the majority - IE on
Windows at 800x600, but if you use CSS with relative sizing on divs, fonts
and tables, then you will reach the widest possible audience and make it
easy for the few folk who do need to change the screen size of text size to
do so easily.

We've done this on our (relatively) new pages at Vision Australia
(http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/) if you care to take a look. [And if
anyone finds problems, please let us know so we can address them.]

Keep trying - don't bang your head too hard.

Andrew
_________________________________
Dr Andrew Arch
Manager Online Accessibility Consulting, Vision Australia Foundation
Ph 613 9864 9222; Fax 613 9864 9210; Mobile 0438 755 565
http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/webaccessibility |
http://www.it-test.com.au/ | http://www.dc-anz.org/

Member, Education & Outreach Working Group,
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/




                                                                                                                    
                      Dominique Clawson                                                                             
                      <Dominique.Clawson@co        To:       "'webmaster(at)ltp-design.com'"                           
                      lorado.edu>                   <webmaster(at)ltp-design.com>                                      
                      Sent by:                     cc:       "'aware-techniques(at)hwg.org'"                           
                      owner-aware-technique         <aware-techniques(at)hwg.org>                                      
                      s(at)hwg.org                    Subject:  RE: DHTML and accessibility                            
                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                    
                      29/04/2003 04:35 AM                                                                           
                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                    




Hey Stephen:

I was poking around in W3C and found this:

"CSS allows precise control over spacing, alignment and positioning.
Authors
can thereby avoid "tag misuse" - the practice of misusing a structural
element for its expected stylistic effects. For example, while the
BLOCKQUOTE and TABLE elements in HTML are meant to mark up quotations and
tabular data, they are frequently used to create visual effects instead
such
as indentation and alignment. When specialized browsing software such as a
speech synthesizer encounters elements that are misused in this way, the
results can be unintelligible to the user. "

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS-access under "How Style Sheets Benefit
Accessibility"

What I'm wondering is if I position my elements with CSS and I use a 12pt
font-size, what happens when the user chooses a 64pt?  I guess the whole
thing would be unreadable wouldn't it?

Dominique
   (who today feels like banging her head against the wall)


-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Jones, LTP-Design and Professional Hosting
[mailto:webmaster(at)ltp-design.com]
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 9:06 PM
To: Dominique Clawson
Subject: RE: DHTML and accessibility


Dominique writes:
> Stephen:
> > Here is one place where I found that:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#tables-layout
>

Thanks Dominique, been awhile since I read all that
Now, here's how it reads:

Checkpoints in this section:
5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when
linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an
alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version). [Priority 2]
5.4 If a table is used for layout, do not use any structural markup for the
purpose of visual formatting. [Priority 2]
Authors should use style sheets for layout and positioning. However, when
it
is necessary to use a table for layout, the table must linearize in a
readable order. When a table is linearized, the contents of the cells
become
a series of paragraphs (e.g., down the page) one after another. Cells
should
make sense when read in row order and should include structural elements
(that create paragraphs, headings, lists,
etc.) so the page makes sense after linearization.

Also, when using tables to create a layout, do not use structural markup to
create visual formatting. For example, the TH (table header) element, is
usually displayed visually as centered, and bold. If a cell is not actually
a header for a row or column of data, use style sheets or formatting
attributes of the element.
-------------------------------------- END

Seems to me that tables are fine if used as described, and from that first
link, I'm not sure why "style sheets are preferred" for layout. Well, I'll
just toss that question out to all you folks.

I think I've done a "fair" job of beginning to address accessibility on our
new design, but I know it's not done. Is this a list where it's OK to ask
others to look at how our site addresses accessibility, and get some
feedback and/or critique?

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