RE: Multiple versions of a web page

Hi,

I agree that there probably won't be a universal solution which
consists of some combination of multiple versions of a web page
and some sets of transformations on certain versions of the
that web page.

I think it is important to provide web page developers a variety of
approaches from which they can choose to provide accessibility
in accordance with the skills and resources they have available.

Rather than thinking in terms of a generic web page which could be be a
little misleading, I've been thinking more along the lines of a
"basic browser" version of web page.  I believe it might be easier for
web page developers to work with.

Providing access to content in a database might be helpful, but I do
wonder how many users would take advantage of it.  It is not clear to
me that the percentage of technologically daring people is significantly
greater in the disabled population than in the general population.

Scott

> Actually I don't think there is going to be a universal solution where there
> are 3, or 4, or two versions of a page that collectively p[roviide full
> accessibility.
> 
> Different kinds of content will be most easily made accessible  by allowing
> access in different ways - in some cases by providing a single page that
> supports a high degree of re-rendering, in others by providing several
> specialised renderings with linkage between them.
> 
> A "Generic" version as one among many is always a good option, because it is
> actually quite difficult to ensure that all different needs have been met.
> 
> In addition, if there is an underlying source that is processed, it is often
> a good idea to provide access to that as well (for example, I can use a
> database to collect content, and build navigation paths through it on the
> fly, but it is helpful to have a simple way to get at all the content - for
> example to enable search engines to point to something in the database.
> 
> A more accessibility-related use case is to enable someone to build a new
> optimised interface to that data, similar to the ability some portals have to
> allow for (usually very limited) customisation.
> 
> Accordingh to research done on customising portals at Monash University (I
> read a paper that I can't find - I think it was by Dey Alexander) if I recall
> correctly only a few percent actually customise the portal, but they
> appreciate greatly the ability to do so. If that few percent happens to be a
> group of people with disabilities, it is just as well to have enabled it.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Charles

Received on Tuesday, 1 January 2002 00:36:48 UTC