Re: Partially sighted Web user

Prompting the page author to reduce horizontal scrolling is a good idea but
it doesn't seem to be covered specifically in the WAI WCAG. Should we bump
this back to that group for comment? Should the ERT include techniques that
are not specified by the WCAG?

My feeling is that the current ERT should cover the current WCAG only.

Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: Leonard R. Kasday <kasday@acm.org>
To: <w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 1999 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: Partially sighted Web user


> I pulled this from wai-ig to discuss here in more detail.  It regards
> designing pages to reduce need to do horizontal scrolling.
>
> Potential thing to check for in ERT.
>
> I'd suggest a placeholder.  In general, I'd like to see placeholders for
> things that we don't have techniques for so it's all in one place.
>
> Len
>
>
> >From: Al Gilman <asgilman@iamdigex.net>
> >Subject: Re: Partially sighted Web user
> >Sender: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org
> >
> >Although it may not be obvious to the casual reader, most of the
practices
> >which gratuitously fix the pixel size of the content - such as using GIFs
> >to display text - are discouraged in the WCAG.
> >
> >As Charles says, there are problems with images where contemporary media
> >are not scalable and W3C has SVG under development to help.
> >
> >However, in the short term I would also suggest that she evaluate Opera
for
> >her use because it may make enough difference to be worth the change.
> >
> >Al
> >
> >At 02:35 PM 10/1/99 +0000, Julie Howell wrote:
> >>I have been contacted by a partially sighted lady here in the UK  who is
> >using a
> >>particular Acorn Archimedes screen magnification system.
> >>
> >>She is experiencing problems when trying to view some Websites.  She is
> >>under the impression that Web designers are able to code Webpages so
that
> >>horizonal scrolling will never be necessary by users of magnification
> >software.
> >>Here's what she says in a messasge to me:
> >>
> >>" Formatting.   I'm still concerned that this issue doesn't seem to be
> >amongst
> >>the ones you raise with designers.   Yet it's quite crucial for
> >>anyone using screen enlargement,  like me.
> >>I need to be able to format all text to about 50-character lines,  and a
> >resolution
> >>width of 440 pixels.   Do you take this into account when advising
clients?
> >>Some sites reformat automatically,  giving me line
> >>lengths that fit my screen.   Others have a fixed
> >>line length,  which makes me have to scroll across,
> >> which is very bad for my eyes :-(
> >>Can you add automatic reformatting to your
> >>desired parameters,  please?"
> >>
> >>My response to this lady so far has been that I didn't believe it was
> >possible to
> >>fix the width of pages without the use of tables (which then causes
> >problems for
> >>other Net users).
> >>
> >>Doesn't all magnification software (such as Zoomtext) require horizontal
> >>scrolling?  Is is realistic to expect all Web designers to put text with
> >fixed-width
> >>tables/frames (I think not!).
> >>Am I missing something?  Or should I advise this lady that there is
> >nothing that
> >>can be done to help her and she should get some new software (which she
is
> >>very reluctant to do)?
> >>
> >>Thanks and best wishes
> >>Julie Howell
> >>Campaigns Officer (Access to Digital)
> >>RNIB
> >>JHowell@rnib.org.uk
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> -------
> Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
> Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
> Department of Electrical Engineering
> Temple University
>
> Ritter Hall Annex, Room 423, Philadelphia, PA 19122
> kasday@acm.org
> (215) 204-2247 (voice)
> (800) 750-7428 (TTY)

Received on Monday, 4 October 1999 09:42:23 UTC