Re: Alternate proposal for ISSUE-30 longdesc

On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:44:37 +0100, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>  
wrote:

>>> http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/ChangeProposals/LongdescConformingWithWarning

> I personally do not think the case for longdesc is terribly compelling.  
> I wanted to write this proposal so we have a middle-ground position on  
> the table, that is a compromise between fully noncomforming and fully  
> conforming. We can examine whether that middle ground satisfies more  
> people than either of the extremes. If it cannot draw more support than  
> either of the previous proposals then I will likely withdraw it.

Unlike Hixie's proposal, I think that this proposal can turn into  
something I can support.

I don't think the statement in the Wiki that longdesc must refer to an  
external page is accurate, and I would in any case change my change  
proposal to explicitly allow for longdesc references to be within the page  
(my understanding is that this is already allowed). I do consider that in  
the long term longdesc should be phased out in favour of a more  
generalised solution to the problem it solves - something like  
aria-describedBy, but with a better way of handling descriptions that  
*are* external references.

>> The second argument in the change proposal is:
>>
>> "Some laws, regulations and organizational policies may refer to
>> longdesc by name."
>>
>> Using this as argument for keeping any feature seems very sad to me.
>> The idealist in me strongly prefers to add accessibility features
>> based on what helps people with accessibility needs, rather than what
>> local laws say.

It is not axiomatic that laws, regulations and organisational policies are  
wrong. Many things done for accessibility begin as one of those things.

cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathieNevile  Opera Software, Standards Group
     je parle français -- hablo español -- jeg lærer norsk
http://my.opera.com/chaals       Try Opera: http://www.opera.com

Received on Monday, 22 February 2010 14:12:53 UTC