So are you supporting the continuation of PRE? On Sun, 31 Aug 2003, Janina Sajka wrote: > I have promised a dissertation on the <pre> element vis a vis > accessibility. This email is that document. > > DISCLAIMER:All opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily > reflect the views of any other individual or of any organization except > as expressly denoted within quotation marks and attributed by URL > reference. > > The Issue: There have been recent exchanges contesting whether or not > use of the <pre> tag constitutes a challenge to accessibility of that > content. > > DEFINITION: <pre> has been in the HTML specs at least since HTML 2.0 > (see http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html) where <pre> > was defined (see > http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/1995-archive/Elements/PRE.html) as: > > "PRE: Preformatted text > > "Preformatted elements in HTML are displayed with text in a fixed > width font, and so are suitable for text which has been formatted for > a teletype by some existing formatting system." > > Note: There wasn't really an html 1.0 (See > http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-html/1997Jan/0035.html). > > The definition from HTML 4.01 (see > http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text.html) explains: > > ""The PRE element tells visual user agents that the enclosed text > is "preformatted". When handling preformatted text, visual user > agents: > * ""May leave white space intact. > * "May render text with a fixed-pitch font. > * "May disable automatic word wrap. > * "Must not disable bidirectional processing. > > "Non-visual user agents are not required to respect extra white > space in the content of a PRE element. ... > > "The DTD fragment above indicates which elements may not appear > within > a PRE declaration. This is the same as in HTML 3.2, and is > intended to preserve constant line spacing and column alignment for > text rendered in a fixed pitch font. Authors are discouraged from > altering this behavior through style sheets." > > <PRE> is still available in the most recent W3C XHTML 1.1 > recommendation (see http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/) and in the public > draft for XHTML 2.0 (see > http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-xhtml2-20020805/xhtml2.html). > > ACCESSIBILITY > > The W3C's recommendation on accessibility in content markup is known as > the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WCAG 1.0 > recommendation is at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/. > The current public draft of WCAG 2.0 is at > http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-WCAG20-20030624/. > > The approach to accessibility in web content is introduced in the WCAG > 1.0 as follows: > > "For those unfamiliar with accessibility issues pertaining to Web page > design, consider that many users may be operating in contexts very > different from your own: > * "They may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to > process some types of information easily or at all. > * "They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text. > * "They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse. > * "They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow > Internet connection. > * "They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which > the document is written. > * "They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are > busy or interfered with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud > environment, etc.). > * "They may have an early version of a browser, a different browser > entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system. > > "Content developers must consider these different situations during > page design. While there are several situations to consider, each > accessible design choice generally benefits several disability groups > at once and the Web community as a whole. For example, by using > style sheets to control font styles and eliminating the FONT > element, HTML authors will have more control over their pages, make > those pages more accessible to people with low vision, and by sharing > the style sheets, will often shorten page download times for all > users." > > The WCAG summarizes the process as consisting of twh themes: > > " > The guidelines address two general themes: ensuring graceful > transformation, and making content understandable and navigable." > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > -- -- Charlie Crawford
