[xtm-wg] RE: XTM 1.0 Spec Accessibility Features

["Wrightson, Ann" <ann.wrightson@leedsalumni.org.uk>]

OK - but not before Washington! Sounds like a good one to think about on the
plane, & I have some experience in presenting diagrams to a class with
simultaneous verbal translation for a blind student, so I think I can do
this sensibly. Did you find any trace of a recommended way to describe UML?
- sounds like the sort of thing there might be some precedent on, in
WAI-space (which I don't know well at all).

Cheers

Ann W.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Murray Altheim [mailto:Murray.Altheim@Eng.Sun.COM]
> Sent: 28 November 2000 19:20
> To: Wrightson, Ann
> Cc: XTM Authoring Group
> Subject: XTM 1.0 Spec Accessibility Features
> 
> 
> Other title of this message: Documentation of UML Diagrams
> 
> Ann,
> 
> I've decided to try to out-do the W3C in their Web 
> Accessibility Initiative,
> since few of their own documents are particularly accessible to the 
> handicapped. In going through the WAI guidelines, we've met "Triple-A"
> conformance so far as I can ascertain. We do need to provide some help
> for our UML diagrams, though.
> 
> Since we only have nine diagrams, I've made what are called d-links,
> which are small 'd's to the bottom right of each graphic. (This is a
> feature touted by the WAI community, not something I've made up.) 
> Additionally, there is a 'longdesc' attribute on each graphic. Both 
> point to a new document that provides textual descriptions of the UML
> diagrams, plus a general description of the structure and navigation
> features of our spec. The descriptions of the UML diagrams 
> aren't meant
> to reiterate the text, they merely describe the UML itself, ie., what 
> someone would understand, say, if they called you on the phone and
> were asked "what do you see there?"
> 
> This is where I'm asking you, and potentially anyone else who 
> took part
> in the CMS group, to come up with short texts in this regard. This 
> shouldn't be particularly difficult, since this doesn't require an 
> understanding of what the diagrams *means*, simply what the UML *looks
> like*. Just a short bit.
> 
> This is a supplement to the 1.0 specification, so it doesn't have to
> be done by our deadline. I've already provided the text of the UML
> captions, which is helpful in itself, but as I receive the 
> descriptions
> I can put it on the page.
> 
> If you aren't able timewise to provide this text, perhaps I 
> can ask you
> to discuss this among the CMS people and find someone who 
> might be able?
> 
> Thanks! I think XTM will potentially be a good WAI citizen. 
> [We may need
> to ask some WAI people for a review of our syntax, which wouldn't be a
> bad idea. Most likely they'd recommend additional attributes 
> like 'alt'.]
> 
> Murray
> 
> ..............................................................
> .............
> Murray Altheim, SGML/XML Grease Monkey     
<mailto:altheim&#64;eng.sun.com>
XML Technology Center
Sun Microsystems, 1601 Willow Rd., MS UMPK17-102, Menlo Park, CA 94025

      In the evening
      The rice leaves in the garden
      Rustle in the autumn wind
      That blows through my reed hut.  -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu

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