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

[Tim Culhane]

Hi Barry,

Most  screen readers now  "remember"  the place in the page  you were at
when you left it,  i.e.   By following a link.  Thus the back button will
normally return you back to the original place on the page.

However, in my experience,  this sort of functionality is notoriously
unreliable, and you  are just as likely to be returned to the top of the
last page as to the place where you left it.

Which is not to say I like pop up windows either,   but I  can see their
advantages in certain circumstances.

Tim


-----Original Message-----
From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
[mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie] On Behalf Of Barry McMullin
Sent: 09 January 2007 14:49
To: irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie
Cc: mcmullin at eeng.dcu.ie
Subject: Re: [Irl-dean] Opinions: HTML Transitional and WCAG Double-A




On Tue, 9 Jan 2007, Gez Lemon wrote:

> It depends whether or not the author is depending on something that is 
> available through the transitional DTD that isn't available in the 
> strict DTD. For example, if someone absolutely cannot use JavaScript, 
> but must have links that open in new windows (so that visitors can 
> keep their place on a form, for example), then a transitional doctype 
> is their only option.

Thanks Gez!

Now, not that I want to go off at a tangent or anything <wink> but of course
it is not actually possible any more to "force" opening of a new window
(whether using HTML Transitional or javascript). But, at least for the use
case Gez mentions ("keeping your place in a form"), presumably, in most
browsers, the back button is perfectly functional for this? (I'm not saying
this would be as satisfactory for "typical" users - it probably wouldn't;
but just that if, for whatever reason, a particular user *prefers* that "new
window" requests should not be honoured by the user agent, this would not
normally be an absolute show stopper. Which, in turn, might mean it would be
OK to implement the new window request only via HTML Strict + javascript
anyway ... )

That said, I do take Gez' point: if there are "legitimate" things that one
wants to do, that transitional allows but strict doesn't, then that
certainly makes a case for using transitional.

So now I'm curious: can anybody identify any *other* such cases (i.e., apart
from the "target" attribute as a device for requesting a new window)?

Thanks - Barry.


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