Re: Updated Mozilla Keyboard Navigation spec.

["Norman B. Robinson" <norman_b_robinson yahoo com>]

Peter,

   Thanks again to you and your team!

   I'm trying to consider your decision for "core" navigation in 
relation to your original goals, and trying to imagine how it might 
fail. Although I'm still trying to dedicate the time to really provide 
you with some ideas, one thing that does stand out is the pruning of 
some commands to make a "core".
   I recommend you go ahead and make the additional "non-core" items 
part of your proposal. I encourage you to think of "configurability" as 
to be used by the end-user, to work around end-user input problems 
specific to whatever assistive technology they might use. Your proposal 
is the glue, the API, the well defined interface, and will *lead* where 
many others will follow. I guess I'm trying to suggest you don't prune 
anything, but let those commands change if needed. Try rather than try 
not, if you will.

   If the issues are really one of abstraction and a core navigation 
enables you to release a product on time, then I understand the need to 
release version 1 and later address more commands. If there is a lack of 
consensus, outline it (easier said than done, I know) and we will all do 
what we can to assist you.

   Regards,

   Norman Robinson

Peter Korn wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> After reviewing the many hundreds of comments and messages generated 
> by the first Mozilla/Gecko Keyboard Navigation Proposal, I'm pleased 
> to announced our second draft is available for review, at:
>
>   http://www.mozilla.org/access/keyboard/proposal
>
> After the huge volume of feedback, we carefully re-thought a number of 
> things and especially took to heart the frequent request for 
> configurability.  To that end we have decided to prune some of the 
> commands from this second draft to cover only "core" navigation to be 
> implemented directly in C in Gecko. Configurability is most easily 
> done in JavaScript extensions, and that is where we feel all of the 
> "item navigation" work is best done.  This is also where much of the 
> "specialized for specific accessibility needs" navigation falls as 
> well - blind users for example finding good table item navigation 
> particularly important where a general keyboard user wouldn't benefit 
> as much.
>
> Sun plans to implement all of the specific keyboard navigation items 
> discussed in the specification (with exceptions clearly noted).  We 
> believe that item navigation is important, but we don't propose to 
> implement that immeidately - both because there is yet no clear 
> concensus as to how it should be done, and because we feel that it is 
> urgent that we have "core keyboard navigation" working well as quickly 
> as possible.
>
> Sun's Mozilla engineering team has been posting source tarballs of 
> Mozilla periodically containing all of Sun's changes to a Mozilla 1.7 
> branch, where our work is taking place toward a release we are working 
> on.  This second draft notes which portions of the keyboard navigation 
> proposal are implemented in Mozilla trunk, which have thus far only be 
> implemented in the Sun Mozilla 1.7 branch, and which have yet to be 
> implemented anywhere.
>
>
> I encourage you to review this draft, and send your comments again 
> only to <mozilla-accessibility mozilla org>.  I also encourage you to 
> try those portions of the keyboad navigation proposal which have been 
> implemented.  You can see Sun's most recent Mozilla 1.7 branch tarball 
> at: 
> http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/accessibility/sun-mozilla-1.7/12-03-2004/ 
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Peter Korn
> Sun Accessibility team
>
> _______________________________________________
> mozilla-accessibility mailing list
> mozilla-accessibility mozilla org
> http://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/mozilla-accessibility