[Irl-dean] Opinions: HTML Transitional and WCAG Double-A

[Eoin Campbell]

In my view it is perfectly reasonable to claim even AAA conformance while
declaring the HTML 4 Transitional DTD in your page DOCTYPE.
It is often the case that many pages on a website actually conform to
HTML 4 Strict, but some (for various reasons) do not, and rather than
individually set the most appropriate DOCTYPE for specific pages,
the webmaster specifies all pages as Transitional.

What you may have meant to ask was: if a page _uses_ Transitional 
constructs that are not
permitted in Strict (e.g. the U element, or the A/@TARGET attribute),
is it valid to AA?

I think the answer must be: it depends on whether those constructs are 
permitted
for AA conformance or not. For example, Checkpoint 10.1 is Priority 2, 
and recommends
not opening new windows, so using A/@target would not be compliant.

However, using a U element, but altering the presentation to display 
something
other than a standard underline bar might well meet the spirit of the 
guidelines.



Barry McMullin wrote:
> Hi Folks -
>
> And just to kick the new year off ... a quick "quiz" - just off
> the top of your heads: do you think it is ever reasonable to
> claim WCAG Double A conformance for a page that is presented in
> HTML Transitional? Assume that it *is* valid (whether HTML 4 or
> XHTML 1 etc.) - but that is not the point at issue.  Rather, I
> want to probe how people see/interpret the distinction between
> Transitional and Strict, and how that relates to WCAG
> conformance.
>
>   

-- 
Eoin Campbell, Technical Director, XML Workshop Ltd.
10 Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harolds Cross, Dublin, Ireland.
Phone: +353 1 4547811; fax: +353 1 4496299.
Email: ecampbell at xmlw.ie; web: www.xmlw.ie
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