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questions from a student

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From: Glenda
Date: Jun 22, 2004 1:38PM

Hi all,

I'm training someone via email on the WCAG and she has asked some questions
that I can't quickly answwer. I am hoping you can enlighten me and save me
from searching for the answers myself. Yes, some may consider that
cheating. I consider it be efficient as I can work on something else as I
await your wisdom!


Queestion: "I just saw another abbreviation on the home page. I prefer to
spell things out because although the terms might be familiar to me, some
people have never been to an AGM. But when it is repeated... I am wondering
if it is identified once on a page, does it have to be
re-identified at every instance?"

My initial response was that according to the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0, use and to expand the first time they occur
on the page. However, this begs the question, what happens when individuals
using a screen reader doesn't begin reading from the top of the page and
they miss where the abbreviation/acronym was first spelled out? Is this may
be another case where the guidelines don't mesh with reality? Or am I
missing something fundamental when using these attributes?


Question: "The XHTML validation doesn't like any of those non-SGML
characters. Anything that can be done about that, besides avoiding them?"


Question: "During testing for CSS, it passed but got a warning: * Line :
0 font-family: You are encouraged to offer a generic family as a last
alternative. Does this mean identify outside CSS?"


I look forward to your responses, as I'm trying to stay a step ahead of my
student.

Thanks kindly,
Glenda Watson Hyatt
Soaring Eagle Communications
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