Thread Subject: Re: General Issues: AT responsibility

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From: Peter Korn
Date: Wed, Jan 10 2007 10:05 AM

Hi Sean,

> I believe row and header elements are a specific example of the more general case of labelling elements. If there is some reason why they should be handled differently can someone explain why they need to be special cased.
>

I think reasonable people can put this into different "slots" of 508 -
and certainly of an accessibility API. We've sorted row & column header
information into our AccessibleTable sub-interface. However, I can see
putting it instead into a labeling style of relationship just as easily.

I think the key is that row & column headers need to be exposed
programmatically to AT, and done so in a way that is natural for the API
in use on the platform in question.


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> Sean Hayes
> Standards and Policy Team
> Accessible Technology Group
> Microsoft
> Phone:
> mob +44 7977 455002
> office +44 117 9719730
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Andi Snow-Weaver
> Sent: 09 January 2007 21:57
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Subject: [teitac-websoftware] General Issues: AT responsibility
>
>
> In the course of our discussions on the exisiting 508 provisions, some
> other, more general issues popped up.
>
> One of these is the issue of AT responsibility to support what IT provides.
> Mike Fratkin brought up the issue during the discussion on row and column
> headers. [1] It is often the case that the IT software or website is
> providing accessibility information correctly through a standard
> accessibility API, however, the AT is not extracting the information and
> providing it to the user.
>
> Someone else mentioned that screen row and column header information would
> be useful to screen magnifier users but that, even though the information
> is available to the AT, screen magnifiers don't provide the information to
> users.
>
> 508 currently does not enforce any requirements on AT to support what IT
> provides. Thoughts on this topic?
>
> [1] http://teitac.org/mailarchives/mail_message.php?id=1439&listid=3
>
> Andi
>
>

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