Re: [WSG] Best format for accessible equations
Breton, Except for the most basic of equation, I don't believe that solution is practical. In the absence of the full symbolism contained in the equation, the meaning of the equation becomes lost very, very quickly. For example, the equations contained in this graphic - http://www.xycoon.com/images/nor010.gif - are not terribly complicated, but as you start to read it out into words, it becomes extremely verbose and confused. Function of capital x equals exponential raised to the power of minus one half times capital x minus mu divided by sigma raised to the power of 2 all divided by sigma times the square root of two times pi. You've also now lost some of the meaning of the equation - mu is the expected value of a normal probability distribution; capital X is the expected value of a sample from the population with normal probably distribution; and sigma is the population standard deviation. Now, granted, someone familiar with mathematics would know this, but in the symbolic representation of the equation the meaning is clear and embedded. Looking at the example you provided, is this to mean (x/2)^y or x/(2^y)? An enormous degree of care would be required to accurately, and unambiguously translate the symbolic representation of the equation into English. Best regards Steve Baty 2008/9/22 Breton Slivka [EMAIL PROTECTED] Might I suggest quite simply, that in the alt attribute, you write in english, basically what you would say if you were to read the mathematical expression out loud? This has the best chance of being converted into something comprehensible by a screen reader. I am assuming of course that screen readers typically have no built in facility for dealing with mathematical expressions. For example, something like X over 2, raised to the power of Y I'm pretty sure there's a fairly traditional language used for reading math expressions, though I don't know of any references. On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Andrew Ivin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all, We are implementing mathematical equations on one of our websites. Unfortunately, we are not able to implement a MathML or LaTex type solution at this stage (developer time and budget constraints) So, we are putting these equations up as graphics. I'm wondering the best way of giving these graphics alt attributes - both for web browsers and screen readers. If there are any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. Thanks, -- Andrew [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** -- -- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IA Institute - www.iainstitute.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Breadcrumbs showing organisational structure and usability
Lib, Breadcrumbs fall into that category of IA component that hurts no-one, and helps some people some of the time, which generally makes them worthwhile. However, breadcrumbs should serve a specific purpose, that being: to represent the content pathway the user followed to reach their current page. If your site (overall) is structured the same way as your organisation, then the breadcrumbs you've described serve their purpose (although the convention is that each node in the breadcrumb be a link, other than the current page). From what I can see, however, the intent of this device is not to act as a breadcrumb trail in the navigational sense, but is, in fact, a method for communicating organisational structure. That should be a different conversation, and its one that is likely going to come down to 'Company convention dictates' - end of discussion. I have some concerns about the potential for confusing users who would visually associate this device with a navigational mechanism, so an alternate visual treatment (especially the choice of the delimiter) might be in order. Otherwise, the general consensus amongst the IA community is that breadcrumbs don't hurt, and they might help. Regards Steve 2008/6/6 libwebdev [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi folks, My organisation manages around 7000+ pages for 100s of departments, using a CMS. Mine is the only department outside the CMS, just because we can. We have been persuaded (read: bullied) to redesign our header to exactly match that of the parent organisation. I have no problem with that per se, but theirs includes breadcrumbs, and we don't want 'em. I'm wondering what the consensus is here on their usefulness. I've always been under the impression that the purpose of breadcrumbs was to indicate to the user where they had been. However, the ones we are being urged to implement do no such thing; they simply display our organisational structure. This means that on every one of our 200-odd pages, the breadcrumbs will appear like so (we are the library): Parent Org Clinical Services Library Current page The only thing that's going to change is the current page. To me, that's not a breadcrumb trail at all. Am I wrong in my thinking? Is this a common usage? How does this benefit the user at all? I'm questioning it because of usability issues, which is how I tie it in with web standards. If this is considered off-topic, I apologise, and replies should come directly to me rather than the list. thanks, lib. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** -- -- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IA Institute - www.iainstitute.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Breadcrumbs showing organisational structure and usability
Thank you Jessica. Your clarification is correct :) 2008/6/6 Jessica Enders [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I agree with most of the comments in response to this query but thought I would clarify one part of what Steve said, namely that: breadcrumbs ... represent the content pathway the user followed to reach their current page. I misread this sentence initially and so others may too. I thought Steve was saying that breadcrumbs represent the pathway of pages the user moved through to get to their current page. But what I think he's actually saying is that they represent the location of the current page within the site hierarchy. This latter type of crumb is useful because it gives you a sense of context; the former type of crumb is unnecessary because you have the back button. Cheers Jessica Enders Director Formulate Information Design http://formulate.com.au Phone: (02) 6116 8765 Fax: (02) 8456 5916 PO Box 5108 Braddon ACT 2612 On 06/06/2008, at 6:58 PM, Steve Baty wrote: Lib, Breadcrumbs fall into that category of IA component that hurts no-one, and helps some people some of the time, which generally makes them worthwhile. However, breadcrumbs should serve a specific purpose, that being: to represent the content pathway the user followed to reach their current page. If your site (overall) is structured the same way as your organisation, then the breadcrumbs you've described serve their purpose (although the convention is that each node in the breadcrumb be a link, other than the current page). From what I can see, however, the intent of this device is not to act as a breadcrumb trail in the navigational sense, but is, in fact, a method for communicating organisational structure. That should be a different conversation, and its one that is likely going to come down to 'Company convention dictates' - end of discussion. I have some concerns about the potential for confusing users who would visually associate this device with a navigational mechanism, so an alternate visual treatment (especially the choice of the delimiter) might be in order. Otherwise, the general consensus amongst the IA community is that breadcrumbs don't hurt, and they might help. Regards Steve 2008/6/6 libwebdev [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi folks, My organisation manages around 7000+ pages for 100s of departments, using a CMS. Mine is the only department outside the CMS, just because we can. We have been persuaded (read: bullied) to redesign our header to exactly match that of the parent organisation. I have no problem with that per se, but theirs includes breadcrumbs, and we don't want 'em. I'm wondering what the consensus is here on their usefulness. I've always been under the impression that the purpose of breadcrumbs was to indicate to the user where they had been. However, the ones we are being urged to implement do no such thing; they simply display our organisational structure. This means that on every one of our 200-odd pages, the breadcrumbs will appear like so (we are the library): Parent Org Clinical Services Library Current page The only thing that's going to change is the current page. To me, that's not a breadcrumb trail at all. Am I wrong in my thinking? Is this a common usage? How does this benefit the user at all? I'm questioning it because of usability issues, which is how I tie it in with web standards. If this is considered off-topic, I apologise, and replies should come directly to me rather than the list. thanks, lib. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** -- -- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IA Institute - www.iainstitute.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** -- -- Steve
Re: [WSG] Decorative bolding
Rachel, We (Red Square) have the same issue with oneworld Alliance (oneworld.com) . The 'one' is made bold using a span and a class. The CMS was modified to allow this to be applied automatically to ensure consistency of use throughout the site. Regards, Steve On 12/02/2008, Rachel May [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi everyone, I have a client who requires part of their name to be bolded within the body text for brand reasons. This I see as decorative, therefore it would not be correct to strong it... Do I: a. Use the b tag, or... b. Use a span tag and bold it using CSS? What everyone think?? Thanks, Rachel *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** -- -- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Web Form Best Practices
Howard, I highly recommend Luke Wroblewski's work on form layout design best practice. You can find Luke's discussion article here: http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/web_forms.html and here: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?144 Luke is also working on a book on the subject: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/ Further discussions on label placement here: http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000107.php Also an article about contextual help approaches for Web applications: http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000170.php Lastly: Jennifer Tidwell's book Designing Interfaces - which is full of design patterns for standard interface elements/mechanisms. There's an accompanying site: http://www.designinginterfaces.com/ Hope that helps Steve On 15/11/2007, Howard Kim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I hope this question is appropriate for this list. I'm doing some research on best practices for creating web forms with the following in mind: * Accessibility * Semantic Markup with CSS * Form Layout Design I would like to come up with some form templates for my organization based on best practices and web standards. I was wondering if anyone knew of any resources related to this topic. I've done a Google search for web form best practices which came back with a huge number of responses. Any help focusing my search? Many thanks. ~Howard -- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Director, User Experience Strategy Red Square P: +612 8289 4930 M: +61 417 061 292 Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org Member, Web Standards Group - www.webstandardsgroup.org *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
