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RE: Section 508 Question

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From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Jan 9, 2006 3:40PM

On Mon, 9 Jan 2006, Andrew Kirkpatrick wrote:

> This checkpoint doesn't set any requirements for the page to work with
> scripting off, just that the content created by the script needs to be
> exposed via the operating system in a way that is familiar to screen
> readers or other assisitve techologies.

That's probably the idea behind it, but then the rule is far too vague as
a legal requirement. (Well, it is anyway.) Does it mean _all_ screen
readers or other assistive technologies? If it does, it is impossible to
satisfy - partly because there are technologies that do not interpret
scripts at all, partly because an author cannot really guarantee that the
content is exposed in any particular way. If we limit ourselves to some
set of technologies, then those technologies should be clearly identified
to make the rule well-defined.

I'm afraid this is one of the points where the mission of Section 508 has
failed: the rule is far too obscure (even as informal description, not to
mention requirement to be imposed), and the Access Board explanations make
it even more obscure (and do not mention Andrew's point at all).

--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/