Contents | Guideline 1 | Guideline 2 | Guideline 3 | Guideline 4 | Glossary | References

W3C

Implementation Techniques for
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

Working Draft 31 October 2003

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-ATAG20-TECHS-20031031/
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20-TECHS/
Editors:
Jutta Treviranus - ATRC, University of Toronto
Jan Richards - ATRC, University of Toronto
Matt May - W3C

Abstract

This document provides information to authoring tool developers who wish to satisfy the checkpoints of "Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0" [ATAG20]. It includes suggested techniques, sample strategies in deployed tools, and references to other accessibility resources (such as platform-specific software accessibility guidelines) that provide additional information on how a tool may satisfy each checkpoint.

This document is part of a series of accessibility documents published by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This version of Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility is a draft of an informative appendix to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. The Working Group intends to publish a final version of this document as a W3C Note. Note that this draft does not represent consensus within the WAI Authoring Tools (AUWG) Working Group, nor within W3C. This document is likely to change and should not be cited as anything other than "work in progress". The Working Group expects to update this document in response to queries raised by implementors of the Guidelines, for example to cover new technologies. Suggestions for additional techniques are welcome.

This document represents an attempt to make it clearer how to use the techniques for different types of tools. It begins the process of publishing the techniques as a multi-part hypertext document. It also updates the Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [ATAG10-TECHS] for compatibility with ATAG 2.0.

This document has been produced by the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The goals of the Working Group are discussed in the AUWG charter. A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents including Working Drafts and Notes can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/. The AUWG is part of the WAI Technical Activity.

The working group maintains an ATAG 2.0 Issues List and a list of patent disclosures.

Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list: w3c-wai-au@w3.org (public archives). Please note that this document may contain typographical errors. It was published as soon as possible since review of the content itself is important, although noting typographical errors is also helpful.

For information about the current activities of the working group, please refer to the AUWG home page. This page includes an explanation of the inter-relation of each document as well as minutes and previous drafts.

For further information about Working Group decisions, please consult the minutes of AUWG Meetings.

This document has been produced by the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The goals of the Working Group are discussed in the AUWG charter.

Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list: w3c-wai-au@w3.org (public archives). Please note that this document may contain typographical errors. It was published as soon as possible since review of the content itself is important, although noting typographical errors is also helpful.

A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents including Working Drafts and Notes can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.


Table of Contents


Introduction

How this document is organized

This document has been divided into a multi-part hypertext document to keep individual pages to a manageable size. There are publishing conventions used to identify various features and parts of the document. Some of these will be used to provide multiple views of the techniques - for example implementation techniques for a particular kind of tool, or references for particular techniques. Other conventions are used to ensure that this document is compatible with ATAG version 1.0 or will be compatible with ATAG wombat with a minimum of difficulty or change.


Implementation Techniques by Guideline and Checkpoint

Guideline 1: Make the tool itself accessible

Ensure that the authoring tool is accessible to authors with disabilities:

Guideline 2: Enable the production of accessible content

Generate standard markup:

Support accessible authoring practices:

Guideline 3: Support the production of accessible content

Guiding the author to produce accessible content:

Promoting accessibility in help and documentation:

Guideline 4: Integrate accessibility content related features

Integrate accessibility solutions into the overall "look and feel":


Other technique documents

Glossary

References


[@@ed. should we synchronize the two categories?@@]

Note: Applicability of Techniques to Different Kinds of Authoring Tools

Note on applicability of techniques: The following techniques are applicable to all kinds of authoring tools, including those that are insertable components of other authoring tools. For example, if an authoring tool for designing on-line courses (courseware) has a prefabricated chat facility that the instructor can drag on to their page, this component must comply with all the techniques for accessible authoring interface (guideline 1) and accessible Web content output (guidelines 2-7) and .

Authoring tool categories

Note: For the purposes of these techniques, authoring tools may fall into one or more of the following categories. For example, an HTML authoring tool that allows the user to create JavaScripts will fall under two categories, Markup Editing Tools and Programming Tools. A SMIL editor that includes a text-only view of the markup and a preview mode would be considered both a Markup Editing Tool and a Multimedia Creation Tool. @@This is still tentative@@

  1. Markup tools technique Markup Editing Tools: Tools that assist authors to produce markup documents. These include text-based and WYSIWYG markup editors for HTML, XHTML, SMIL, etc. and word processors that save in markup formats.
  2. Multimedia tools technique Multimedia Creation Tools: Tools that assist authors to create multimedia Web content without the author having control over the raw markup or code of the output format. These include multimedia production tools outputting SMIL or QuickTime as well as image editors, video editors, sounds editors, etc.
  3. Content tools technique Content Management Tools: Tools that assist authors to create and organize specific types of Web content without the author having control over the markup or programming implementation. Good examples include courseware in which the author is prompted to enter various information which is then displayed in a format determined by the tool. Note: If the tool allows the author to control the markup that is actually used to implement the higher-order content, then that functionality would be considered to be a Markup Editing Tool.
  4. Programming tools technique Programming Tools: Tools for creating all kinds of Web Applications, including Java applets, Flash, server and client-side scripts, etc. Also includes tools that assist authors to create markup languages (i.e. XML) and tools that assist authors to create user interfaces (i.e. UIML?).
  5. Conversion tools technique Conversion Tools: Tools for converting content from one format to another. This includes tools for changing the format of images, for conversion of other document formats to XHTML, for importing document formats and document management systems and servers.

 


Example 1: Text Editing

Screenshot of Dreamweaver MX code view

Description: Screenshot showing a text editor style editing window with XHTML code displayed. Text within tags (including the "pointy" brackets) has been colored blue by the tool. Other text is black.
(Source: Screenshot from Macromedia DreamWeaver MX)


Example 2: Symbol-Level Editing

Screenshot of Lego Mindsorm RCX code.

Description: Screenshot showing a code editing environment in which each operation is represented graphically as a piece of a toy constructor set (e.g. Lego). The graphical "pieces" of code have different colors and appearances depending on what operation they are. One of the operations is a repeat loop and its attributes (e.g. repeat conditions) are controlled by form elements on the "piece".The graphical "pieces" of code can be dragged around and assembled in different orders.
(Source: Screenshot from Lego MindStorms RCX software)


Example 3:WYSIWYG Editing

Screensot of Dreamweaver MX design view.

Description: Screenshot showing an editor window that looks like a browser window, with rendered text and an image of a satellite. The only thing betraying the editability of the content is an edit cursor below the last line.
(Source: Screenshot from Macromedia DreamWeaver MX, image from NASA.gov)


Example 4: Graphics Editing

Screenshot of Microsoft Visio 2002 design canvas.

Description: Screenshot showing a grid with several overlapping squares. One of the squares has been selected and is displayed in green. A drawing cursor hovers nearby.
(Source: Screenshot from Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional)


Example 5: Content Management

Screenshot of WebCT courseware package.

Description: Screenshot showing a Web page containing a form that a person could use to change the way a course home page is displayed. The options include: "Change page colors", "Modify/add background image", "Modifyicon style", "Replace individual icon", "Hide lefthand navigation bar", "Show lefthand navigation bar", and "Modify/add hit counter". Another section of the page lets the user decide how to display the following: "Assignments", "Calendar", "Discussions", "Mail", and "My Grades".
(Source: Image from WebCT.com)


Example 6: Constrained Editing

Screenshot of a comment submission tool.

Description: Screenshot showing a Web page containing a form that a person could use to add their name, email address, homepage and comments to another Web page.
(Source: Screenshot of "Greymatter" comment submission tool


Example 7: Timeline Editing

Screenshot of Flash MX timeline.

Description: Screenshot showing a grid. The rows are separate tracks, while the columns are frame numbers (everything in a column happens at the same point in time). Other options shown allow the user to "add", "remove", "hide" and "lock" tracks.
(Source: Screenshot from Macromedia Flash MX)


Example 8: Format Conversion

Screenshot of word processor 'Save As' dialog box that supports conversion to HTML.

Description: Screenshot showing the lower portion of a "Save as" dialog box. There is a textbox for the document name and a drop-down menu to choose a saving format. The screenshot captures the user saving a word processing document as an HTML Web page.
(Source: Screenshot from Microsoft Word 2000)


Contents | Guideline 1 | Guideline 2 | Guideline 3 | Guideline 4 | Glossary | References