RE: How Far Can Web Accessibility Go?

Thank you for your feedback, Geoff. 

> Software developers already implement accessibility to a greater
extent
> than web developers because of the tools and architecture they use;  
> SDKs, IDEs, APIs and general ability to follow standards better than
web 
> developers (sorry if I am offending the more respected WDs amongst 
you). 
I am not sure of any statistic data but I think it will be much easier
for the users to find accessible softwares/hardwares than accessible web
sites, as I believe the selections should be much larger. Its just the
matter of availabilty. For example, people probably will not have
problem finding an accessible display or screen reader to improve their
web surfing (and I am not talking about WHERE they will buy them- online
or not). But I wonder how many accessible websites they can find, say,
for Christmas shopping? There are a lot of e-commerce sites where you
can shop, but I wonder how many of them are designed with accessibility
in mind? 

>On a general note, from my personal perspective, I believe we will only

>get high level to a high level of web accessibility when tools, mainly 
>backend and CMS's address these in their basic architecture.  So far, 
>it's been a long journey and looks like still being a sojourn. 
Web is still fairly a "new" medium, especially when compared to the
history of softwares/hardwares. Yet it has been catching up. We know its
much easier to create an accessible site then making an existing site
accessible. And that's the way it should be. More and more sites are
created everyday. I hope more developers (and any other project members
involved) willl have time and thoughtfulness (and money if necessary) to
consider accessibility.  

Kind regards,
Keiko

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Keiko OKADA 
http://www.mitsue.co.jp
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Received on Tuesday, 23 December 2003 20:50:59 UTC