Thread Subject: Second draft of the API Requirements Proposal, cross-referenced to ISO 9241-171

Note

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From: Peter Korn
Date: Mon, Feb 05 2007 7:01 AM

Greetings,

In the January 3rd Web & Software subcommittee meeting, we had a
discussion of the first "API Proposal", and a few of us took the action
to review the proposal in the context of the language on "Compatibility
with assistive technology" in ISO 9241-171, Section 8.6. See:
http://teitac.org/wiki/Web_and_Software:January_3#Disussion_on_the_API_proposal
for a summary for a summary of that January 3rd discussion, and
http://teitac.org/wiki/Web_and_Software:Accessibility_API_Proposal for
the original proposal that Andrew Kirkpatrik and I put together last
December.

In the intervening weeks since January 3rd, Sean Hayes and Rich
Schwerdtfeger joined the original group who drafted and reviewed that
original proposal (unfortunately we didn't manage to get engineering
review from any ATIA members). We have finished a thorough comparison
of what the original proposal stated, and the requirements (phrased in
much more general terms) in ISO 9241-171, Section 8.6.

As a result of this work, and additional discussions and thoughts and
review among this group, we have:

1. Renamed this work to "Accessibility API Requirements Proposal",
to more accurately reflect what it is. It isn't a proposal for
any specific API, or even a proposal what should be done in 508
with APIs. Rather, it is a distillation of what any Accessibility
API must have in it in order to be effective - at a minimum with
least today's desktop systems - to support AT-IT interoperability.

2. Removed the "General system information" section of the original
proposal, as that was the one thing that went beyond the scope
of ISO 9241-171 Section 8.6.

3. Added a few new requirements that flow from ISO 9241-171 Section
8.6 that we had not thought initially to put into the proposal

4. Made a few other changes, largely stemming from concerns about
new graphic rendering techniques now being released, or soon on
the horizon, in desktop IT systems.

5. Annotated each specific API requirement with links to the
corresponding language in ISO 9241-171 Section 8.6 that requires
them.


Please see this second draft at:
http://teitac.org/wiki/Web_and_Software:Accessibility_API_Requirements_Proposal
and specifically the notes to this update, at:
http://teitac.org/wiki/Web_and_Software:Accessibility_API_Requirements_Proposal#Notes_on_this_draft


You may also find our dissection of the language in ISO 9241-171 Section
8.6 and the portions of the API Requirements Proposal that support each
portion of that dissection illuminating as well. See that at:
http://teitac.org/wiki/Web_and_Software:Accessibility_API_Proposal-ISO-Mapping


As before, these are draft documents, subject to further discussion, and
revision.


Regards,


Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

WebAIM is an initiative of:
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