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Re: Can I make my family tree chart

for

From: Terence de Giere
Date: Jul 23, 2003 2:01PM

I do have to admit that the term definition list congers up the example of a dictionary definition. In one of my first uses of a definition list I rewrote the internal style sheet of an audio browser which announced the definition of in a definition list <DD> simply as "indented text" to "definition or explanation of term" to create an audio example.

The word 'definition' also has the meaning of providing greater clarity or detail, not necessarily just the meaning of a word:

1: an act of determining; specifically : the formal proclamation of a Roman Catholic dogma

2a: a statement expressing the essential nature of something b: a statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol <dictionary definitions> c: a product of defining
3: the action or process of defining

4a: the action or the power of describing, explaining, or making definite and clear <the definition of a telescope> <her comic genius is beyond definition> b(1): clarity of visual presentation : distinctness of outline or detail <improve the definition of an image>(2): clarity especially of musical sound in reproduction c : sharp demarcation of outlines or limits <a jacket with distinct waist definition>

Now I wonder what Brent Ashworth is thinking about this. I do not think we have solved his problem clearly about how to make a family tree accessible. I feel a table won't work well in aural or text presentation. That would leave nested ordered or nested unordered, or nested definition lists. We could have a prose description, perhaps with headings. Whatever it is it needs to be a good alternative text version of a typical tree chart that is unambiguous in aural, Braille, or reflowing text. I still favor nested definition lists, but have reservations about the number of branches on this family tree making it difficult to understand non visually. I am not attached to this if someone thinks of a better clearer way to present it.

We also did not really comment on whether a table would be satisfactory, at least visually, when formatted with CSS. If one wanted this table to be clear with older graphical browsers that did not support CSS, it would be necessary to use spanned rows and columns and have cell borders to make it easier to read the chart, but that would make it very difficult for non visual user agents that do not support associating headers with data etc., and which do not understand spanning rows and columns.

Terence de Giere
<EMAIL REMOVED>


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