W3C

The CSS ‘Reader’ Media Type

W3C Working Group Note 14 October 2014

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/NOTE-css3-reader-20141014/
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-reader
Previous version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/WD-css3-reader-20040224
Editors:
Bert Bos (W3C), <bert@w3.org>

Abstract

This note replaces a draft specification for a media type called ‘reader’, for targeting style sheets at devices that are able to synchronously speak and display text. This specification is no longer being developed.

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

Publication as a Working Group Note does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

This document was produced by the CSS Working Group (part of the Style Activity).

The (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org (see instructions) is preferred for discussion of this document. When sending e-mail, please put the text “css3-reader” in the subject, preferably like this: “[css3-reader] …summary of comment…

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

This document is governed by the 1 August 2014 W3C Process Document.

This specification has been discontinued. At this point no further work is planned.

Table of contents

1. Summary

The media types defined by CSS level 2 [CSS21] do not easily fit a device such as a screen reader, which speaks text, but also keeps the audio and the video output synchronized. It seems useful to be able to provide a style sheet for such a device, different from the ‘speech’ media type, which does not have any visual output at all.

However, there has been little interest in defining a high-level ‘reader’ media type.

Current work on Media Queries focuses on defining lower-level media features, which can be combined to let the style sheet author define arbitrary kinds of devices. See Media Queries Level 4 [MEDIAQUERIES-4].

2. References

[CSS21]
Bert Bos; et al. Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification. 7 June 2011. W3C Recommendation. URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/REC-CSS2-20110607
[MEDIAQUERIES-4]
Florian Rivoal; Tab Atkins Jr. Media Queries Level 4. 5 June 2014. W3C First Public Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/WD-mediaqueries-4-20140605/