Re: [oiic-formation-discuss] My perspective. display perferct?

[Alexander Wright <alexander@silverfish-design.co.uk>]

On Wednesday 02 July 2008 13:45:48 David Gerard wrote:
> 2008/7/2 Peter Dolding <oiaohm@gmail.com>:
> > PDF is a complete pain in a but format developed on the old ps format
> > that was also a pain in but for editing.   Reason why other
> > typesetting programs exist that translate into PS and PDF.
> > If ODF turns into PDF pain to edit someone needs killing.   Latex is
> > still heavy used in a lot of places due to PS and PDF issues of
> > editing and it produces as good as documents and either PS or PDF can
> > but is also a lot nicer to edit.
>
> Heh, yes.
>
> Thomas and Rob explained in some detail why asking for layout-perfect
> from ODF is asking for a pony.
>
> Would it be reasonable for the interop TC to at least address the
> issue and why asking for this is asking for a pony? At least to get
> the issue dealt with.

I mentioned this before, but no one picked it up.

ODF should be able to be used by blind / partially sighted people using screen 
readers. More generally, the TC should probably address the needs of the less 
able in ensuring that if we do include PDF like formatting elements, they can 
be sensibly ignored, while retaining the structure of the document.

As an example of bad practise, its easy to put an introduction, or index at 
the end of a HTML file, then use CSS to position it at the beginning of the 
page (in an HTML browser). From the point of view of someone using a screen 
reader, this is less than helpful. 

I'm not blind or partially sighted myself, but I do try to think about the 
subject when designing websites.

Alex.

-- 

Alexander Wright
Silverfish Design
Phone: 07970 633952