User:Oedipus
From html4all
Contents |
Gregory J. Rosmaita (a.k.a. oedipus)
contact information:
- skypename: oedipusnj
- IRC: oedipus, oeddie, or OedipusWrecked
- default eddress: oedipus at hicom dot net
- alternate eddress: gregory at linuxfoundation dot net
other pertinent information
- pronunciation of last name: ross may tuh
- geographic location: the garden state (also known as new jersey)
- why oedipus?
- simple mathematics: over the course of my life, i've oft been addressed using a 12-letter non-maternal epithet, so that, plus the fact that i'm blind, equals: oedipus
- parallell universes:
My Mantras
- A man of the highest benevolence acts, but from no ulterior motive. A man of the highest rectitude acts, but from ulterior motive. A man most conversant in the rites acts, but when no one responds rolls up his sleeves and resorts to persuasion by force.
- Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
- I must think myself independent, as long as I live; the feeling is essential to my existence.
- John Adams
- The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
- Bertrand Russell
- Who so ever diggeth a pit, shall fall in it...
- Proverbs
The View from My High Horse
A Not So New Year's Resolution
i will not post to the WHAT WG Blog again... why? because no one's there to listen to anyone else with a divergent opinion, and the lack of a preview functionality leads to more heat than light... i for one have better ways to spend whatever time i have left on this planet to do something constructive, such as prepare test documents, propose alternate wording for the HTML5 submission where i deem it needed, and concentrate my energies on the forms task force, rather than indulging in a childish game of name calling (or, for my less sensitive readers, a pissing contest) in order to test each other's staying power...
it's practically still a new year for me, so it is time to test my resolve and finally exert some sort of discipline to my cathaholic existence... if anyone cares what really bothers me, they can always do so via my blog or my anti-blog
Why Does html4all Exist?
html4all exists to concentrate on the user experience of web applications, in whatever form it takes, and to discuss new solutions to old problems.
one of the things that i haven't been able to communicate effectively to the HTML WG is that the "accessibility enhancements" of HTML 4.01 were the product of intensive triage performed and bolted-onto HTML4, at quite a late stage of that specification's development, admittedly sometimes using square pegs to fill round holes...
this is the reason why jason and i -- as well as many others -- who were part of that triage, do not want that experience replicated... one of the aspects of the HTML4 approach to accessibility which has always bothered me the most is how closely it resembles the state of development of adaptive overlays for "mainstream" programs, a practice which most of us deplore, and which still hampers a hell of a lot of users who are stuck with lousy after-the-fact attempts to make up for what a "mainstream" application lacks -- namely, conformance to OS standards, useability standards, internationalization standards (remember when MSAA turned every computer running microsoft windows into a box that only operated in english?) or even their own company's self-proclaimed "logo standards"... that HTML4 did not address accessibility issues in a more comprehensive manner was an unavoidable reality forced upon us by time constraints and the "collaborative process" -- as well as the fact that we were also tasked with simultaneously reviewing CSS2...
which is why, i, for one, fought to be in on the development of the next iteration of HTML, as well as XHTML2, from the very beginning, in no small part to fulfill the desires of Alfonso el Sabio, who is best remembered for 2 things: a cycle of musical works known as Las cantigas de Santa Maria and for having once proclaimed that had he been present at the creation, he would have had a few suggestions...
html4all must work in the clear, in order for it to have an effect whatsoever outside of a small self-selected audience -- the first step in that direction is to agree upon a social contract/compact which makes clear and concrete what we have come to expect of each other and what has led us to form html4all -- honesty, openness, and mutual respect...
Avoiding Pitfalls
- it is of utmost importance that html4all should not become a self-selecting forum by limiting discussion to those who agree with us
- if the list@html4all.org needs to be described, let it simply be described as what it is -- html4all or html4all discussion list... our goal is to foster constructive feedback for the HTML WG and to provide a place for people to express ideas without being attacked from a hundred sides -- we ARE html4all, not just html4some or html4thoseleftbehind...
