Re: Allaire Spectra

Hi, Laurie,

I don't have any experience using Spectra, but in a quick look at the ican 
Web site, I found some accessibility problems for visually impaired people. 
I have found that the various guidelines are often geared to people using 
screen readers and other speech-enabled technology and don't consider some 
of the issues that affect visually impaired people who are accessing the 
Web visually. We may be using none or one or more of the following: low 
resolution, larger font, hand-held magnifiers, screen magnification, etc.

The first 3 accessibility problems that I see on this site apply to people 
who are visually impaired, but accessing the pages visually:

1. Horizontal scrolling is necessary at 640 x 480 resolution at 12-point font.

2. Two of the banners have text that moves and changes.

3. The links on the navigation bar at the left are very small. I needed to 
change my browser setting just to work with them more comfortable.

The other 2 problems apply to some people using screen readers and other 
speech-enabled technology:

1. I think that the 4-column format must be a problem for people using 
older screen readers.

2. Some links need to separated by something other than a blank space.

Judy

Judy Schnitzer, Internet Marketing Consultant
Customized eMarketing to match your needs
Web Site Development, Tune-up, & Promotion
Research, Writing, & Training
818-501-8202
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At 10:13 AM 4/3/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>....Spectra technical reps tell me that Spectra is able to generate 
>accessible HTML and/or XHTML web pages, which are formatted using a type 
>of style sheet.
>
>A Spectra-generated site can be seen at  www.icanonline.net ...

>Appreciate hearing from anyone having experience with this system.   Thanks!
>
>Laurie Davis-Covin, SAIC
>Web Technologist at the
>National Institute of Standards and Technology
>301-975-8027