Re: LIFT Text Transcoder

Isofarro <lists@isofarro.uklinux.net> wrote:
> The fundamentals of a dynamically generated text-only website are wrong, 

> and the end result is no better than the start result, and typically is 
> worse.

Can someone please explain to me the difference between having the server 
dynamically produce the text only web page and the results of browsing the 
page with the text only browser, such as Lynx? 

Isn't this just really a "when" and "who" statement or functionality? 
Putting the assistive technology on the server can actually provide some 
assistive functionality to the users who don't have the assistive 
technology on their client.  So the benefit and usefulness is dependent on 
the paradigm of who's client and when they are getting the content, before 
or after server transformation. 

For example, the real difference between the LIFT transcoder and the text 
only browser such as Lynx is in the assistive functionality between the 
two.  If LIFT has more capabilities that Lynx, then the Lynx user is at a 
disadvantage if they don't use the LIFT dynamically generated page - 
simple as that.  If the assistive capabilities of Jaws or Windows Eyes or 
ZoomText are greater that the LIFT server capabilities, which I will argue 
they are, there is actually a disadvantage to the 
Jaws/WindowEyes/ZoomText/AT user to use the LIFT transcoded page instead 
of the non-transcoded page.

So, is there anything wrong for a company to offer a dynamically text 
generated page - not in my mind. In fact, it may offers functionality to 
users who don't have the functionality on their client.  But, let's not 
confuse the difference between what can be done on a server vs what can be 
done on a client.  A server side assistive technology transcoder will 
never, in my opinion, replace or duplicate the functionality of the client 
side AT such as Jaws or ZoomText, but it sure can be helpful to clients 
who don't have either.. 

Regards,
Phill Jenkins
IBM Worldwide Accessibility Center
http://www.ibm.com/able