Edit comment LC-1203 for Accessibility Guidelines Working Group

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Comment LC-1203: Comment Shortname:; Commenter: Al Gilman <Alfred.S.Gilman@IEEE.org>; Message-id:; Section of the document concerned:

or; Refinement of the section concerned:; Status:
assigned to; Type:; Resolution status:
Response drafted Resolution implemented Reply sent to commenter; Response status:
No response from Commenter yet Commenter approved disposition Commenter objected to disposition
Commenter's response (URI):; Comment:
"content is perceiveable" is an oxymoron; the content may be unrecognizable if the features of the rendered presentation are not perceivable, but perceivable features are not an independent principle, they are just a possible failure mode for the success which is understanding what was being represented in the rendered content.

Understanding is an independent requirement, perception is an instrumentality. Compare with how people can frequently read text where all but the first and last letters of each word are obscured beyond recognition. This rendered content would flunk a 'perceivable' test but pass a 'recognizable' test thanks to the inherent redundancy of natural language.

The whitespace between glyphs is either perceivable or not perceivable. The functional requirement if the glyphs are spelling some natural langugage is that the user be able to recognize the natural language represented by the glyphs in the rendered content. The term 'recognizable' is a significantly better fit to the requirement, here, as opposed to 'perceivable.

Proposed Change:

Change to [words to the effect that]

"information is recognizable in the rendered content at the user interface -- a) [best] as configured to be presented by the author and server b) [good] as presented in a delivery context where the user employs readily-achievable adjustments to the look and feel or c) [OK when that's all that works] c) as available in a readily discovered and followed alternate path through the content."; Related issues: 1200
(space separated ids); WG Notes: [EDITORZ] [HOLD] Discussed in the 08 March 2007 telecon: resolution: accept 1200, 1203 as amended http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2007/03/08-wai-wcag-minutes.html {partial accept} (combine with response to 1200); Resolution: Principles are not a technical provisions, but something to provide a gestalt. We have changed them to a certain extent but we want them to be short slogans that are easily remembered and understood as overarching principles. They now read: 1. Perceivable - Information and user interface must be perceivable by the user. 2. Operable - User interface components must be operable by the user. 3. Understandable - Information and operation of user interface must be understandable by the user. 4. Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.; (Please make sure the resolution is adapted for public consumption)