UNIT 10 NORMS AND GUIDELINES FOR

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Structure

10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Needs and Guidelines
10.2.1 Needs
10.2.2 Some General Guidelines

10.3 Standards Related to Electronic Content

10.3.1 ISO Standards

10.4 W3C Recommendations

10.4.1 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Checkpoints

10.5 Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange

'10.5.1 Origin.
10.5.2 Objectives
10.5.3 Features

10.6 Dynamic Content

10.7 Summary
10.8 Answers To Self Check Exercises
10.9 Keywords
10.10 References and Further Reading

10.0 OBJECTIVES
Logically, content development is not a new concept. However, in the context of
developments in ICT and availability of information in varieties of forms, content
development refers to the organisation of web information and, thus, assumes
great importance. In the previous Units, you have learnt about norms and standards
of record formats of non-web information. In this Unit We will be discussing the,
norms and standards developed for recording web information.

After reading this Unit, you will be able to:

• understand the need for guidelines for content development; and

• learn about the important guidelines formulated by various bodies such as
W3C 'and ISO.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
The electronic information provides the opportunity, of varied style of presentation
of information as compared to traditional form of documents - printed form. Due
to availability of technology and its options, it is possible to add multimedia
components in documents. As a result there is a tremendous onslaught of,
documents which are graphic intensive. While images and other audio-visual
methods are attractive-and effective ways of communication, there should be
careful analysis and reasoning, before adding on many multimediaeffects, Due
to online accessibility of such documents it is necessary to keep in mind the time
taken for transmission of such documents as well as the traffic burden on the 331
Content- Development networks. The content needs to be well organized keeping in vie~ the requirements
and the level of understanding of the end users. Several guidelines have been
provided by bodies such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
and W3C (WWW Consortium) which specify the content and its presentation'.

For the accessibility issues pertaining to web page design, it must be taken into
consideration that the end users may be operating in contexts which are very
different from the hosts' environment. Also that the users [Neilson, Jacob] may
".operate in varieties of situations. For example, he may not be able to see, hear,
move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all
or may have difficulty in reading or comprehending text. Sometimes, he may not
have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse, or may have a text-only screen,
a small screen, or a slow Internet connection. At times it may be that he may
not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written
or may be in a situation where his eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered
with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud environment, etc.). It may so
happen also that he may have an early version of a browser - a different
browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

Content developers must consider these different situations during page design.
While there are severa1 situations to consider, each accessible design choice
generally benefits the web community as a whole and several disability groups
as well. For example, by using style sheets to control font styles and eliminating
the 'FONT' element, HTML authors will have more control over their pages,
make those pages more accessible to people with low vision, and, by sharing the
style sheets, will often shorten page download times for all users. The guidelines
address typical scenarios (similar to the font style example) that may pose
problems for users and provide accessible design solutions.

10.2 NEEDS AND GUIDELINES

10.2.1 Needs

Information explosion is of concern for information professionals and end users

who are trying to harness information for their appropriate use. In the context
of online and Internet documents the information available is voluminous and the
rate at which resources are added is even more daunting. It is not only the
matter of concern for end-users point of view but also of equal concern to 'the
hosts who aim at having a target audience while hosting resources online. The
efforts should, therefore, be to develop content and host it, so that it reaches its
end-users.

In a distributed uncontrolled system of online resources, retrieval of information

is one the main concern. The search facilities available through general Internet
search engines are inadequate in' harnessing all available information. Reason is
not only the bulk of the information but also the non-standard way of authoring
and presentation which makes searching difficult. If each electronic resource
were to have a 'title page' or the information that occurs in the title pages of
the documents then it would have been much easier to organize and locate
information in an environment such as the Net. The need for standardised way
of hosting electronic documents has lead to the development of few standards
and guidelines. Strictly speaking, very few of these guidelines are meant for
content aspects, rather they deal more with issues in structuring of documents
and presentation aspects. For instance, the Sun Site follows certain premises, for
provision of content on their site [Neilson and Fox]: firstly that; "Writing for the
web is very different from writing for print". Users' interaction with web pages
is quite different form print in that:
• 79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-by-word; Norms and Guidelines for
Content Development
• Reading from computer screens is 25% slower than from paper; and
• Web content should have 50% of the word count of its paper equivalent.

Another aspect which is important in content development is what the content

itself should consist of, rather than just 'how' it should be presented. This issue
has an important bearing especially in the web world where spurious and harmful
information may be hosted with ulterior motives. Website hosts, therefore, give
a great deal of thought to making adequate policies about the permissible content
that will be hosted by them and also the screening procedures before going
public.

Electronic resources in the global networked environment has brought new

challenges in information processing. With the possibilities of access and usage
in diverse locations, standardisation has become a major issue. Standardisation of
the ways in which information is stored and represented has become a key in
activities like generating secondary services and information locating tools. The
main advantages of standardisation of representation facilitates:
• re- usability of information once created;
• true inter-operability with respect to different platforms and applications and multiple
languages; and
• global networking and seamless integration of resources.

Self Check Exercise

1) Mention the need for guidelines and norms for 'content development'.

Note: i) 'Write your answer in the space given below.

ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

10.2.2 Some General Guidelines

The Internet and other electronic documents users often come across problems
such as incompatibility of forms and formats, download time, difficulties in
comprehending the content, incomplete information, etc. Adherence to some
general practices and ethics by the content developers are necessary to assure
reasonably well-written and organised resources for the end-users. According to
Jacob Neilson, a web content analyst, the content developers should take care
of the following points:

i) Well-tested and widely used packages in designing web pages should be used. It
. is better to avoid recently released software, especially if there is use of plug-ins
such as Flash or PDF. A good rule is not to use upgraded versions immediately till
they mature. Software vendors require time to fix their bugs and offer reasonably
reliable versions. It also gives users time to upgrade.
ii) As far as possible Scripts in web pages should be avoided. Adding code means
that there is also a risk of bugs (or faults). If scripts are a must then they should be
tested and debugged on all combinations of platforms and browser versions.
333

I
Content Development .iii) It is advisable to have simple point-and-click web navigation. Special menu
controls often fail, especially for users who move their mouse fast or who
have motor skill impairments.

iv) The website should always be made as compact in size as possible. It is good to
have spare server capacity so that your site can cope with traffic surges.
v) Server software must be robust. When selecting vendors, ensuring code
quality must be a priority. .

According to Mick Wood, following guidelines help content developers to-cater

for the needs of all Internet users. . .

i) Screen Layout
Screen layout should be consistent. The more consistent a website is in its
design, the easier it will be for users to navigate. Users, especially persistent
users, tend to learn and remember the location of key, functions and controls.

ii) Logos
Screen layout should include logos, navigation buttons and footer information.
Putting the logo in a consistent place on every page (usually top left) ensures that
visitors are fully aware that they are on the same site.

iii) Update Information

'Page Last Updated' information needs to be included. Visitors will quickly know
if you have added any new content to your site, and iti may prompt you to do
so. The date format should be understandable, i.e., 1st February 2003 is better
that 02-01-03. In the UK 02-01-03 means 2nd January 2003 and in USA it
means 1SI February 2003.

iv) Links
A link to the home page should be added to every page except the homepage
itself. Pages should not link to themselves as this can confuse some users.
Making your logo the home page link is considered to be a good practice.

v) Image Sizes
Considerable number of Internet users still use modems with connection speeds
of 33K or less. Pages should therefore be kept to a maximum of 35K ensuring
download times of less than ten seconds for these users. Visitors may not wait
if your pages take too long to download. All images, including spacer images,
should include alternative text. The alternative text should describe the function
of the image, if applicable:

vi) Use of Frames

Frames should not be used unless absolutely necessary. Frame-based sites can
be confusing for the visually disabled, particularly those using -screen readers or
speech browsers - users can easily become disorientated, Additionally, users
cannot easily bookmark individual pages within a frame-based site.

vii) Page Title

Each page should have a descriptive and different title, clear and helpful headings,
and a logical structure. Titles are used by search engines to identify web 'pages,
If two or more. pages have the same title they cannot easily be differentiated by
users.

viii) Font Attributes

334 The FONT tag should generally be avoided III creating accessible websites.
 While attribute specifications like SIZE="+ 1" or SIZE=" -1" are relatively harmless, Norms and Guidelines for
absolute sizes like SIZE="l" can result in text that is too small to read. Instead: Content Development
Cascading Style Sheets should be used to fonnat web pages. Style sheets allow
authors to suggest relative changes in font size with much greater flexibility than
is allowed under FONT.

ix) Color Attributes

TheCOLOR attribute of the FONT tag should always be avoided since many
browsers still display the font colour when the user tries to override author-
specified colours. The result could be an unreadable document if the font colour
does not contrast well against the reader's chosen background.

x) Text Size and Font

Text should be the equivalent of size 12 points to enhance reading performance.
Research has shown that there is no noticeable difference in reading speed or
user preference between Times New Roman, Georgia or other serif fonts and
Helvetica,Arial or other sans-serif fonts. The FACE attribute of the FONT tag
cannot be overridden by the user in many browsers. This may result in the author
choosing a font that is very difficult to read given the user's platform and
environment settings. The same font may display strangely on different platforms.

xi) Link Identification

Links should be Clearly identified and it should make sense when reading out of
context. Links should never be designated with the text 'click here'. Some
screen readers can be set to read out a list of links on a particular page; a list
of 'click here' links is not helpful. .

Blue underlined text is the preferred choice for all links. Some users miss links
because the text is not underlined. Research shows that users can easily find
links which include visual cues, that is, links that are underlined, rather than
having to move the mouse to see when the pointer changes to a hand (this is
known as mine sweeping). Visited links should be designated using a different
colour. Many users use link colours to identify which parts of a site they have
already visited.

xii) Page Display

. Pages should be fluidlflexible because users browse the Internet using a variety
of screen resolutions. Pages should be designed to expand or contract according
to the user's settings, thus preventing horizontal scrolling. Horizontal scrolling is.
a particular problem for screen reader users because the screen reader does not
automatically scroll horizontally - users may miss important content.

xiii) Device Independence

Pages should be device independent. Not all users navigate websites using a
mouse - many disabled users use Assistive Technology. All users should be able
to navigate the site using the input device of their choice. Keyboard shortcuts,
using the 'accesskey' attribute, should be provided for key links.

xiv) Readability
Paragraphs and sentences should be kept short. Readability improves when
sentences 'andparagraphs are kept relatively short. Users tend to scan web
pages and will often skip over large chunks of text.

These guidelines are not formal guidelines. However, these need to be followed
by the host of the electronic documents. The issues relating te the content and
its organisation are complex and are under consideration -for arrving at standard
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Content Development
-practices by organisations such as the International Organization for Standardization
'

(ISO) [www.iso.org]. The ISO 8879 deals with SGML, the Standard Markup
Language for the web and has been adopted by Text Encoding and Interchange
(TEI) initiative which deals with guidelines for structuring of web documents,

Self Check Exercise

2) Describe the general guidelines to be followed in developing a content.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.

10.3 STANDARDS RELATED TO ELECTRONIC

CONTENT
There has been an increasing awareness of the importance of the human interface
to computer systems which has gained momentum over the past few years. It
is no longer sufficient to provide reasonable function at a good price unless the
system can be easily and productively used. To codify this usability and provide
some consistency from interface to interface, several standards organisations are
working to develop User Interface software standards which they perceive will
provide benefits such as [www.iso.org] :

• providing enhanced usability which results in increased satisfaction and

productivity.

• providing 'some assurance of the users well being and lack of frustration.

• providing needed consistency within and between systems and applications.

• helping software procurers in their selection of acceptable products.

• helping to protect the employer from complaints and possible litigation.

Self Check Exercise

3) What benefits can be had by adhering to standards?

Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.

ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.

10.3.1 ISO Standards

Truly speaking, till date, no set standards exist as such for the content of electronic
documents. However, there are related guidelines which deal with the issues of
336
making user friendly products, accessibility of web documents and standards Norms and Guidelines for
Content Development
dealing with providing bibliographic details to electronic content [www.iso.org].

10.3.1.1 Standards Developed by Isorrc 46/SC9 for Bibliographic

References Including Electronic Documents
• ISO 690- 2:1997, Information and documentation - Bibliographic references -
Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof First edition.

• ISO 999: 1996, Information and documentation - Guidelines for the content,
organisation and presentation of indexes. Second edition.

• ISO 3297:1998, Information and documentation - International Standard Serial

Number (ISSN). Third edition.

• ISO 3901 :2001, Information and documentation - International Standard Recording

Code (lSRC). Second edition.

• ISO 5963: 1985, Documentation - Methods for examining documents, determining

their subjects, and selecting indexing terms. First edition.

• ISO 10324:1997, Information and Documentation - holdings statements -

summary level. First edition [www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9].

10.3.1.2 . Standards Related to Design and Hosting of Electronic Documents

with Multimedia Components
These are under consideration and formulation stage by ISO.

ISO 9241: Ergonomic principles for visual display terminals.

ISO/lEC 10741: What happens to the cursor control when users interact
with text editors.
ISO/lEC 11581: Usage and appropriateness of icons in the user interface.
ISO/lEC 13251: Collection of graphical symbols for office equipment.
ISO 13407: Designing user interfaces with humans in mind.
ISO/lEC 14754: Defines the basic gesture commands.
ISO 14915: Recommendations for multimedia controls and navigation.
ISOIIEC 18019: A standard for the design and preparation of software user
documentation.
ISO/lEC 18035: Icon symbols and functions for multimedia applications.
ISOIIEC 18036: Icon symbols and functions for World Wide Web browsers.

10.3.1.3 Standards Related to Structuring of Web Documents Using

SGML
ISO 8879 SGML: Information Processing - Text and Office Systems -
Standardised Generalised Markup Language (SGML), First Edition.

10.4 . W3C RECOMMENDATIONS

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an independent, international organisation
made up of people from across the Internet and web development communities
- from individuals to representatives of major corporations, like, IBM, Microsoft,
Netscape, and Sun Microsystems, was formalised on December 14, 1994. Its
function is to oversee the formal organisation of HTML, as well as the various
web-related protocols and languages, including CSS, XML and XHTML. The
Consortium's individual working groups focus on issues within a given technology.
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Content Development They make recommendations regarding the formal practices which they believe
that it should be put into use. The W3C recommendations-while based on those
of the ISO-are not true standards. Web markup languages are not ISO standards, .
but recommendations are often referred to as standards.

10.4.1 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Checkpoints

The W3C guidelines include suggestions for content and as well as its presentation
on the web and are meant for web content developers both the authors and also
the web site architects. Though these guidelines basically deal with accessibility
issues and more useful to the physically challenged, they also make the content
more available to users irrespective of which browser or PC they are using to
view the pages. The recommendations also give guidelines for using multimedia
components in the pages [W3C, 1999].

The guidelines enlisted below are part of the W3C "Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0". The guidelines are accompanied by a list of check points which
may be used for cross verification and check list for web content developers.
These checklist of points for each guideline may be used to review a page or
site for accessibility. For each checkpoint the web developer may indicate whether
the checkpoint has been satisfied, or has not been satisfied, or is not applicable.

Priorities
Each checkpoint has a priority level assigned by the Working Group based on the
checkpoint's impact on accessibility.

[Priority IJ
A web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more
groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying
this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use web
documents.

[Priority 2J
A web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more
groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this
checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing web documents.

[Priority 3J
A web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more
groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document.
Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to web documents.

Some checkpoints specify a priority level that may change under certain (indicated)
conditions.

Guideline 1: Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.

This guideline emphasises the importance of providing text equivalents of non-

text content (images, pre-recorded audio, video). In case where one cannot use
images, movies, sounds, applets, etc. directly, still pages that include equivalent
information to the visual or auditory content may be used. The equivalent
information must serve the same purpose as the visual or auditory content. Thus,
a text equivalent for an image of an upward arrow that links to a table of
contents could be "Go to table of contents". In some cases, an equivalent should
'also describe the appearance of visual content (e.g., for complex charts, billboards,
or diagrams) or the sound of auditory content. .'
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 Checkpoints Norms and Guidelines for
Content Development
Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via 'alt', 'longdesc',
or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text
(including symbols), image map-regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets
and programmatic objects, ASCII art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets,
spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-
alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. [Priority 1]

If multimedia is used:
• Until user agents can automatically read aloud the text equivalent of a visual track,
provide an auditory description of the important information of the visual track of'a
multimedia presentation. [Priority 1]
• For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronise
equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions ofthe visual track)
with the presentation. [Priority 1]
• Until user agents render text equivalents for client-side image map links,
provide redundant text links for each active region of a client-side image map.
[Priority 1]

Guideline 2: Do. not rely on colour alone.

It must be ensured that text and graphics are understandable when viewed
without colour. If colour alone is used to convey information, people who cannot
differentiate between certain colours and users with devices that have non-
colour or non-visual displays will not receive the information. When foreground
and background colours are too close to the same hue, they may not provide
sufficient contrast when viewed using monochrome displays or by people with °

different types of colour deficits.

Checkpoints
• Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour,
for example from context or markup.[ Priority 1]
• Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient
contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on
a black and white screen. [Priority 2 for images, Priority 3 for text].

Guideline 3: Use markup and style sheets and do so properly.

Markup documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation
with style sheets rather than with presentation elements and attributes. Using
markup improperly and not adhereing to specifications hinders accessibility.
Misusing markup for a presentation effect (e.g., using a table for layout or a
\
header to change the font. size) makes it difficult for users with specialized
software to understand the organisation of the page or to navigate through it.
Furthermore, using presentation markup rather than structural markup to convey
structure (e.g., constructing what looks like a table of data with an HTML PRE
element) makes it difficult to render a page intelligibly to other devices. Content
developers may be tempted to use (or misuse) constructs that achieve a desired
formatting effect on older browsers. They must be aware that these practices
cause accessibility problems and must. consider whether the formatting effect is
so critical as to warrant making the document inaccessible to some users.

At the other extreme, content developers must not sacrifice appropriate markup
because a certain browser or assistive technology does not process it correctly.
For example, it is appropriate to use the TABLE element in HTML to mark up
tabular information even though some older screen readers may not handle side-
339
Content Development by-side text correctly. Using TABLE correctly and creating tables that transform
gracefully makes it possible for software to render tables other than as two-
dimensional grids.

Checkpoints
• When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to
convey information. [Priority 2]
• Create documents that validate to published formal grammars. [Priority 2]
• Use style sheets to control layout and presentation. [Priority 2]
• Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and
style sheet property values. [Priority 2]
• Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to
specification. [Priority 2]
• Mark up lists and list items properly. [Priority 2]
• Mark up quotations. Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such
as indentation. [Priority 2]

Guideline 4: Clarify natural language usage.

Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or
foreign text.

When content developers mark up natural language. changes in a document,

speech synthesizers and braille devices can automatically switch to the new
language, making the document more accessible to multilingual users. Content
developers should identify the predominant natural language of a document's
content (through markup or HTTP headers). Content developers should also
provide expansions of abbreviations and acronyms. In addition to helping assistive
technologies, natural language markup allows search engines to find keywords
and identify documents in a desired language. Natural language markup also
improves readability of the web for all people, including those with learning
disabilities.and cognitive and physical disabilities.

Checkpoints
• Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any
text equivalents (e.g., captions). [Priority 1]
• Specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it
first occurs. [Priority 3]
• Identify the primary natural language of a document. [Priority 3]
•
Guideline 5: Create tables that transform gracefully.
Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be transformed by accessible
browsers and other user agents. Tables should be used to mark up truly tabular
information ('data tables'). Content developers should avoid using them to layout
pages ('layout tables'). Tables for any use also present special problems to users
of screen readers. Some user agents allow users to navigate among table cells
and access header and other table cell information. Unless marked-up properly,
these tables will not provide user agents with the appropriate information.

Checkpoints
If tables are used:

• for data tables, identify row and column headers. [Priority 1]

340
• for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use Norms and Guidelines for
rriarkup to associate data cells and header cells. [Priority 1] Content Development

• do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when IiI.Cariud.. Otherwise,
if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be
a linearized version). [Priority 2]
• for layout, do not use any structural markup for the purpose of visual formatting.
[Priority 2]
• provide summaries for tables. [Priority 3]
• provide abbreviations for header labels. [Priority 3]

Guideline 6: Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform

gracefully.

Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are .not supported
or are turned off.' Although content developers' are encouraged to. use new
technologies that solve problems raised by existing technologies, they should
know how to make their pages still work with older browsers and people who
choose to turn off features. One example is the use of frames. When frames are
used a note should also be given that the page should be viewed using which
versions of available browsers.

Checkpoints
• Organise documents so that they may be read without style sheets. For example,
when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it must still
be possible to read the document. [Priority 1]
• Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic
content changes. [Priority 1]

If applets and scripts are used

• ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects
are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information
on an alternative accessible page. [Priority 1]
• 'ensure that dynamic content is accessible or provide an alternative presentation or
page. [Priority 2]
• for scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input device-independent.
[Priority 2]

Guideline 7: Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes.

Some people with cognitive or visual disabilities are unable to read moving text
quickly enough or at all. Movement can also cause such a distraction that the
rest of the page becomes unreadable. Screen readers are unable to read moving
text. When using utilities like web casters which use push technology to send
information to the screens. They offer inany features like giving running text
(tickers) and various other animations like screen bursts to present information.
But these features may distract users in their routine work. In the design of web
pages care should be taken when using animations and moving text so that either
users could control the movements and/or speed so that users' convenience is
achieved.

Checkpoints
• Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to
flicker. [Priority 1]
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 ,
I

Content Development • Until user agents allow users to control blinking, avoid causing content to blink
(i.e., change presentation at a regular rate, such as turning on and off). [Priority 2]
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not create periodically
auto-refreshing pages. [Priority 2]
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not use markup
to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform
redirects. [Priority 2]

If applets and scripts are used

• Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid movement in pages.
[Priority 2]

Guideline 8: Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces.

Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design: device-
independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, etc. When an embedded
object has its 'own interface', the interface - like the interface to the browser
itself - must be accessible. If the interface of the embedded object cannot be
made accessible, an alternative accessible solution must be provided.

Checkpoints
• Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or
compatible with assistive technologies [Priority 1 if functionality is important and
not presented elsewhere, otherwise Priority 2.]

Guideline 9: Design for device-independence.

Use features that enable activation of page elements via a variety of input
devices. Device-independent access means that the user may interact with the
user agent or document with a preferred input (or output) device - mouse,
keyboard, voice, etc. For example, if a form control is activated with a mouse
or other pointing device, someone who is using the page without sight, with voice
input, or with a keyboard or who is using some other non-pointing input device
will not be able to use the form. Providing text equivalents for image maps or
images used as links makes it possible for users to interact with them without a
pointing device.

Checkpoints
• Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side image maps except where
the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. [Priority 1]

If you use applets and scripts:

• ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-
independent manner. [Priority 2]
• for scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event
handlers. [Priority 2]
• create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects. [Priority 3]
• provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side
image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls. [Priority 3]

Guideline 10: Use interim solutions.

Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers
will operate correctly. For example, older browsers do not allow users to navigate
342 to empty edit boxes. Older screen readers read lists of consecutive links as one
link. These active elements are therefore difficult or impossible to access. Also, Norms and Guidelines for
changing the current window or popping up new windows can be very disorienting Content Development
to users who cannot see that this has happened.

Note: Web Content Guidelines Working Group considers them to be valid and
necessary to web accessibility. However, the Working Group does not expect
these checkpoints to be necessary in the future, once web technologies have
incorporated anticipated features or capabilities.

Checkpoints
• until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups
or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing
the user. [Priority 2]

If forms are used:

• until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls,
for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly
positioned. [Priority 2]
• until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly,
include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent
links. [Priority '3]

If tables are used:

• until user agents (including assistive technologies) render side-by-side text correctly,
provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables
that layout
, text in parallel, word-wrapped columns.
If forms are used:

• until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding
characters in edit boxes and text areas. [Priority ~]

Guideline 11: Use W3C technologies and guidelines.

Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility

guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results
in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of
the content that is accessible.

The current guidelines recommend W3C technologies (e.g., HTML, CSS, etc.)
for several reasons:

• W3C technologies include 'built-in' accessibility features.

• W3C specifications undergo early review to ensure that accessibility issues are
considered during the design phase.
• W3C specifications are developed in an open, industry consensus process.

Many non-W3C formats (e.g., Shockwave, etc.) require viewing with either
plug-ins or stand-alone applications. Often, these formats cannot be viewed or
navigated with standard user agents. Avoiding non- W3C and non-standard features
(proprietary elements, attributes, properties, and extensions) will tend to make
pages more accessible to more people using a wider variety of hardware and
software. When inaccessible technologies (proprietary or not) must be used,
equivalent accessible pages must be provided.

343
Content Development Even when W3C technologies are used, they must be used in accordance with
accessibility guidelines. When using new technologies, ensure that they transform
gracefully.

Note. Converting documents (from PDF, PostScript, RTF, etc.) to W3C markup
languages (HTML, XML) does not always create an accessible document.
Therefore, validate each page for accessibility and usability after the conversion
process. If a page does not readily convert, either revise the page until its original
representation converts appropriately or provide an HTML or plain text version.

Checkpoints
If all else fails
• If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an
alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent
information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible
(original) page. [Priority 1]
• Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and
use the latest versions when supported. [Priority 2]
• Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies. [Priority 2]
• Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their
preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.) [Priority 3]

Guideline 12: Provide context and orientation information.

Provide context and orientation information to help users understand complex
pages or elements. Grouping elements and providing contextual information about
the relationships between elements can be useful for all users. Complex
. relationships between parts of a page may be difficult for people with cognitive
disabilities and people with visual disabilities to interpret.

Checkpoints
If frames are used
• Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation. [Priority 1]
• Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural
and appropriate. [Priority 2] ,

• Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is
not obvious by frame titles alone. [Priority 2]

If forms are used

• Associate labels explicitly with their controls. [Priority 2]
Guideline 13: Provide clear navigation mechanisms.
Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms - orientation information,
navigation bars, a site map, etc. - to increase the likelihood that a person will
find what they are looking for at a site.

Checkpoints
• Clearly identify the target of each link. [Priority 2]
• Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites. [Priority 2]
• Provide information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map or table ef
contents). [Priority 2]
• Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner. [Priority 2]
344
• Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism. Norms and Guidelines for
[Priority 3] Content Development

• Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do
so, provide a way to bypass the group. [Priority 3]
• If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different
skill levels and preferences. [Priority 3]
• Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.
[Priority 3]
• Provide information about document collections (i.e., documents comprising multiple
pages.). [Priority 3]
• Provide' a means to skip over multi-line ASCII art. [Priority 3]

Guideline 14: Ensure that documents are clear and simple,

Ensure that documents are clear and simple so they may be more easily
understood. Consistent page layout, recognizable graphics, and lucid language
benefit all users. In particular, they help people with cognitive disabilities or who
have difficulty reading,

Using clear and simple language promotes effective communication. Using clear
and simple language also benefits people whose first language differs from the
laguage web content is written, including those people who communicate primarily
in sign language. .

Checkpoints
• Use the dearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content. [Priority t]
• Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate
comprehension of the page. [Priority 3]
• Create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages. [Priority 3}

10.5 ELECTRONIC TEXT ENCODING AND

INTERCHANGE
10.5.1 Origin

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), an international cooperative research effort,

was sponsored and organized by three leading professional associations in the
field: the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), the Association for
Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) and the Association for Computing
and the Humanities (ACH) and funded primarily by the US National Endowment
for the Humanities and by the European Union 3rd Framework Programme for
Linguistic Research and Engineering. It also received with grants from the Mellon
Foundation and from the Canadiari Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council and the donation of time and expertise by the many members of the
wider research community who have served on the TEI's Working Committees
and Working Groups [Lou, 1995]. The goal of the project is to define a set of
generic guidelines for the representation of textual materials in electronic form.

10.5.2 Objectives

There are many different options available to publish information today which
can be in any form. However information in any package is valuable, irrespective
of its physical form .. As technology emerges which is genuinely adequate to the
task of integrating text, graphics and audio into a seamless information-bearing.
Content Development resource, so the importance of that integrated ViSIOn becomes more apparent.
" TEI scheme enhances the content by facilitating the integration of multimedia
technology into electronic resources. This is done by providing a description of
information that is independent of realization or media of the resource.

Though TEI is strongly interested in text, it is by no means confined to the use

of electronic text as a stage in the production of paper documents. The TEI is
equally concerned with both textual and non-textual resources in electronic form,
whether as constituents of a research database or components of non-paper
publications.

TEI project is basically concerned with two aspects:

• what textual features should be encoded (i.e. made explicit) in an electronic

text;
• how that encoding should be represented for loss-free, platform-independent
interchange.

Electronic resources are very heterogeneous in nature. Therefore the content is

also in diverse material such as in newspapers, books, office memoranda, play
scripts, publicity brochures, letters and diaries, transcribed lectures and interviews,
TV and radio broadcasts, and unscripted conversations. Contents from other
media can be integrated into a single body of material. Research needs impose
that this integration be carried out with minimal loss of information, and at the
same time with minimal complexity: in any case, the resulting 'text' is far removed
from the conventional notion of a printed work. Electronic texts contain markup
or encoding, which makes explicit various features of the text, so that they can
be efficiently processed. Printed texts adopt a variety of similarly-motivated
conventions (use of typeface, organisation of the carrier medium, etc), but these
are not so readily processible as the tags of a formal markup scheme [Lou,
1995].

10.5.3 Features

The TEI guidelines mainly deal with any text in electronic form. They are meant
for facilitating text processing. TEI explicitly represents the different features of
text, which in turn makes it easy to manipulate the processing through computer
programs. A set of tags or markers are specified, which may be inserted in the
electronic representation of the text, in order to mark the text structure and other
textual features of interest. Without such explicit markers, many important features
remain difficult to locate by mechanical means such as computer programs, and
thus difficult to process effectively. The process of inserting such explicit markers
for implicit textual features is often called 'markup' or 'tagging', and the term
encoding scheme or markup language denotes the rules, which govern the use
of markup in a set of encodings.

The Guidelines formulated are intended for use in interchange between individuals
and research groups using different programs and computer systems over a
broad range of applications. Since they contain an inventory of the features most
often found useful for text processing, the Guidelines also provide help to those
creating texts in electronic form. They can also be used for the local storage of
text that is to be processed with multiple software packages requiring different
input formats.

The Guidelines apply to texts in any natural language, of any date, in any literary
genre or text type, without restriction on form or content. They treat both
continuous materials ('running text') and discontinuous materials such as
dictionaries and linguistic corpora. Though principally directed to the needs of the
346
scholarly research community, the Guidelines are not restricted to esoteric academic Norms and Guidelines for
applications. They should also be useful for librarians who maintain and document Content Development
electronic materials, as well as for publishers and others creating or distributing
electronic texts. Although they focus on problems of representing in electronic
form texts that already exist in traditional media, these Guidelines should also be
useful for the creation of electronic texts. They are adequate to, but not limited
by, existing practices [www.nk-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9).

Standardising text representation helps development of new applications while

maintaining upward compatibility between the newer versions and the old ones.
By standardising at the level of text representation, it is hoped to retain the
flexibility needed to develop new applications, while ensuring that old ones continue
to function. TEI Guidelines aim to provide not a set of normative rules for
particular applications, but rather a modular and extensible framework, within
which particular application-specific norms can be defined.

Self Check Exercise

4) State the basic objectives of Text encoding?
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.

••••••••••••• 1••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

10.6 DYNAMIC CONTENT

In addition to static web content, dynamic content is produced from databases
when searched and accessed online. Dynamic content can be generated when
page is requested at regular intervals and stored on temporary websites. For
example, metadata attaches to web documents may be produced using database
facility or other utilities and presented in the search results. Dynamic content
causes problems for indexes (search engines) and also catching (by browser or
proxy server) [http://www.upriss.org.uk). However, dynamic content should follow
the general norms and guidelines of content development. It calls for more
meticulous methods in generating such content, information analysis, metadata
design and design of content management system [Rockley, Ann).

Self Check Exercise

5) What is Dynamic Content and the challenges presented by it?
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.

..............................................................................................................
. ,

347
Content Development
10.7 SUMMARY
Content develepment aims at reaching the contents to its target audience- which
should be comprehended by the end users. To achieve successful and meaningful
transfer of information there are basically two factors when electronic sources
are considered. One is the technological compatibitility which emphasizes on
using the mainstream applications which are widely used and available. And
other is regarding the content itself and the ideas contained within. While no
particular guideline deals with a particular 'thought content', the guidelines described
in this Unit will generally give direction to design of electronic documents, its
structuring and presentation of information. The guidelines provided by ISO,
W3C and TEI are described here .
.
10.8 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES
1) It is important to follow norms and guidelines as standardization increases the
accessibility of information to users. Moreover, the searches on Internet could be
made more precise by adhering to standards.
2) While using the electronic documents often the user faces problems with forms
and formats. Generally the concepts should be made clear in the content and
there should be thought flow and continuity in ideas. When structuring, the
documents should be well structured and presentation aspects such as using bold
fonts, underlines and colour should be taken care of.
3) Adhereing to standards ensure 'quality' in products. In the parlance of eleetronic
and on line resources standards help in providing enhanced usability which results
in increased satisfaction and productivity and also provide assurance of the users
well being in using the products. They provide consistency within and between
systems and applications. The standards also help software customers in their
selection of acceptable products. They protect the employer from complaints and
possible litigation.
4) Text encoding deals with the structuring of web documents using markup tags.
The guidelines for text encoding are concerned with both what textual features
should be encoded (i.e. made explicit) in an electronic text, and how that encoding
.
should be represented for loss-free, platform-independent, interchange .
5) Dynamic Content is the content generated dynamically on the web typically using
information in databases. Dynamic content causes problems for indexes (search
engines) and also caching (by browser or proxy server).

10.9 KEYWORDS
Accessible Content is accessible when it may be used by
someone with a disability.
Animation A technique in which each frame of a film or
movie is produced individually, whether
generated as a computer graphic, or by
photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly
making small changes to a model unit (see
claymation and stop motion), and then
photographing the result with a special
animation camera. When the frames are strung
together and the resulting film is viewed at a
speed of 16 or more frames per second, there
is an illusion of continuous movement (due to
the persistence of vision).
348
 Applet A program inserted into a web page. Norms and Guidelines for
Content Development
. Assistive Technologies Devices used by people with disabilities to
access computers. Some assistive technologies
include text-to-speech screen readers,
alternative keyboards and mice, head pointing
devices, voice recognition software, and screen
magnification software.
Braille. Braille uses six raised dots in different patterns
to represent letters and numbers to be read by
people who are blind with their fingertips.
Computer Animation An art of creating moving images via the use
of computers. Increasingly it is created by
means of 3D computer graphics, though 2D
computer graphics are still widely used.
Content Develo,per Someone who authors web pages or designs
websites.
Device Independent '. Users must be able to interact with a user
agent (and the document it renders) using the
supported input and output devices of their
choice and according to their needs. Input
devices may include pointing devices,
keyboards, braille devices, head wands,
microphones, ana others. Output devices may
include monitors, speech synthesizers, and
braille devices.
Dynamic Content Dynamic Content is automatically or
dynamically generated web pages typically
produced using information in databases.
Element An element is a syntactic construct and more
generally means a type of content (such as
video or sound) or a logical construct (such as
a header or list). An element that causes text
characters to be part of the document is called
a text element.
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission.
Image A graphical presentation.
Link Text The rendered text content of a link.
Natural Language Spoken, written, or signed human languages
such as French, Japanese, American Sign
Language, and braille. The natural language of
content may be indicated with the 'lang'
attribute in HTML and the "xml:lang" attribute'
in XML.
Navigation Bar A navigation bar is a collection of links to the
most important parts of a document or site.

Navigation Mechanism A navigation mechanism is any means by which

a user can navigate a page or site. Some typical
mechanisms include: navigation bars, site maps
and tables of contents.
Plug-Ins Software programs that enhance other
programs or applications on your computer. 349
 Content Development
There are plug-ins for Internet browsers,
graphics programs, and other applications.
Site Map A site map provides a global view of the
organization of a page or site.
Style Sheet A style sheet is a set of statements that specify
presentation of a document. Style sheets may
have three different origins: they may be written
by content providers, created by users, or built
into user agents. In CSS, the interaction of
content provider, user, and user agent style
sheets is called the cascade.
Table of Contents A table of contents generally lists (and links
to) the most important sections of a document.

Tabular Information When tables are used to represent logical

relationships among data - text, numbers,
. images, etc., that information is called 'tabular
• information' and the tables are called 'data
tables'. The relationships expressed by a table
/'
may be rendered visually (usually on a two-
dimensional grid), aurally (often preceding cells
with header information), or in other formats.

User Agent Software to access web content, including

desktop graphical browsers, text browsers,
voice browsers, mobile phones, multimedia
players, plug-ins, and some software assistive
technologies used in conjunction with browsers
such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and
voice recognition software.

10.10 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Challenges: dynamic content. <http://www. upriss.org. uk/db/4 33121.1.html>.

Devika, P.M. (2003). Norms and guidelines for content development. In:
PGDLAN Course material: MLI-006, Unit 7. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National
Open University.

Goldfarb, Charles. (1992). SGML handbook. San Jose: IBM Almaden Research
Center.

Hackos, Jo Ann. (2002). Content management for dynamic delivery. New York:
John Wiley & Sons.

IBM. Ease of use ISO IEC standards. <http://www-3.ibm.comlibrnleasy/

eou_ext.nsflPublish/583> [accessed on 13/12/2001].

ISO standard for information and documentation- identification and descrip-

tion. <http://www.nIc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/> [accessed on 21112/2001].
ISO standards search page. <http://www.iso.org/iso/eni
standards _ Search.StandardsQueryF orm> [accessed on 17/0112002].
Lou, Burnard. (1995). An Introduction to the Text Encoding Initiative. Oxford
University Computing Services. <http://www.hcu.ox.ac.ukITEIlPapers/J311
WHAT.htm> [accessed on 16/02/2002].

350
 Norms and Guidelines for
Neilson, Jacob and Fox, Jonathan. (1998). Writing for the web. <http://
Content Development
www.sun.coml980713/webwriting> [accessed on 26104/2004].
Neilson, Jacob. (2000). Content creation for average people. <http://
www.useit.comlalertboxl20001001.htrnl> [accessed on 12/01/2002].
Neilson, Jacob. (2001). Poor code quality contaminates users' conceptual
models. <http://www.useit.comlalertboxl20011028.html> [accessed on 14112/2001].
Rockley, Ann. (2002). Dynamic cotnent management. _<http://www.stc.org!
confproceedl2002IPD Fs/STC49-000 15.pdf>.
Sperberg-McQueen, C.M. and Lou, Burnard. (1994). Guidelines for electronic
text encoding and interchange. Chicago, Oxford: Text Encoding Initiative.
Tufted, Edward R. (1990). Envisioning information. Graphics Press.
W3C. (1999). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. W3C Recommenda-
tion. <http://www.w3.orgITRlWAI-WEBCONTENT/>. [accessed on 17/01/2002].
Wood, Mick. Page design & content guidelines. <http://www.mickwood.coml
artic1es/content.shtrn>.
Workman, Richard Saul. (1996). Information architects. Graphics Press.

351