[html5] making standards-compliant charts

[Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis]

On 30/12/08 00:52, Matt Bonner wrote:
> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis wrote:
>
>> Matt wrote:
>> calling charts graphical to me seems overly simplified.
>
>> I don't really see how the presence of characters makes this a simplification.
>
> Well, to me, saying a chart is "graphical" implies that it is *only* graphical,
> when clearly there are also textual elements in many charts, as your test
> implies.

"Graph" (etymologically) comes from a word meaning to mark or engrave. 
"Graph" is often a synonym for "chart" nowadays, so I don't see why 
"graphical" implies the absence of character data.

Compare: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graphical

> Rendering chart text in an image means bigger, slower pages, ugly
> zooming

With a _bitmap_ image, yes.

 > and little hope for assistive technology to extract meaning.

I'm not sure that's true. OCR might actually be the simplest part of the 
challenge of extracting meaning from a bitmap chart. (Not that typical 
web AT uses OCR!)

Much harder would be working out how the diagrammatic elements relate to 
the text, and the meaning of the whole composition.

>> Failing that, create a separate page and add a visible link to it.
>
> That was my thinking, I just wasn't sure how that would be seen from an
> accessibility standpoint.

Better than nothing!

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis