[WEB4LIB] W3C [sic] compliance

[Thomas Dowling]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Woods Hyman" <lwhyman at pacbell.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 8:46 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] WC3 compliance


> In 1998, this listserv had a robust conversation regarding ADA issues.
Is everyone now WC3 compliant? Did you use Bobby to meet the standards?
I'm somewhat confused about making tables compliant. Does anyone have
any cool sites to recommend besides the WC3 site itself? Thanks.
> ****************************

My personal goal is to make every page under my control at OhioLINK
either A- or AA-compliant with the W3C's Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines, and I think I've gotten pretty close to that.  However, many
library pages fail to comply at the A level, with the most common
shortcomings being lack of ALT text for images and for imagemap AREA
elements.  Run some random library pages through Bobby and you'll get a
sense of how things lie.

I suspect the confusing part about tables is this checkpoint from the
WCAG, which I don't find very clearly written:

    5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table
    makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the
    table does not make sense, provide an alternative
    equivalent (which may be a linearized version).
    [Priority 2]
      Note. Once user agents support style sheet
      positioning, tables should not be used for layout

You can argue that, since the vast majority of user agents in use do
support at least rudimentary style properties, the time for using table
layouts has passed.  Note that this is a priority 2 checkpoint, so you
use table layouts till the cows come home and still be A-level
compliant.

If you want to meet this checkpoint, you need to know what linearizing a
table means.  As used by WCAG, this basically means "the way Lynx 2.7
shows it.*"   You can linearize a table for experiment's sake by
stripping out the TABLE and TR tags and converting all the TD and TH
tags to DIV.   If your page is still comprehensible, you meet this
checkpoint.

I'm not sure I'd call it cool, but in addition to the WCAG, this page
will have some impact on web accessibility;
http://www.access-board.gov/RULES/508nprm.htm


(*Lynx 2.8 has actually added support for small simple tables.  Within
the constraints of its operating environment, that continues to be one
of the most impressive browsers ever.)

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu