Re: Local search engines and accessibility

Jesper Tverskov said:

> Why should people struggle with a new search engine at each website when
> Google or another major global seach engine can do the job even faster
> and better in most cases also locally?

Reuse is always good.  But, I dont think the actual search engine has any
bearing on accessibility.  For the same reason JSP or ASP wouldnt.  They
are back end server processes without user interaction other than through
HTTP requests.

> Why not use an interface users
> know already? This is certanly usability.
>
> Now, from the point of view of accessibility, when a website's pages are
> indexed by Google, wouldn't it be easier for people with disabilities to
> use a seach engine they are already used to use? Should we actively
> promote the use of search engines like Google as local seach engine at
> any major website, if the pages are already indexed by Google?
>
You are confusing the interface with the search engine I believe.  If
Google's user interface is accessible, then maybe that should be a best
practice format for user interface design.  But the actual engine wouldnt
matter.

> We even have a web service, http://www.dentedreality.com.au/xoomle/,
> returning Google as XML, making it possible to present Google's result
> pages exactly as you want.
Now that lends to accessible interfaces <smile>

Received on Monday, 19 April 2004 22:55:22 UTC