Re: fear of "invisible metadata"

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:41:27 +0200, Maurice Carey  
<maurice@thymeonline.com> wrote:

> On 6/19/07 2:41 PM, "James Graham" <jg307@cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> aurélien levy wrote:
>>> Ask to users if they prefers to have page with complete URL or files
>>> names every times the AT comes to an image or simply a page where this
>>> useless information is skipped.
>>
>> Surely if AT gives such a terrible user experience in a common case
>> (missing alt) that should be regarded as a serious usability bug in the
>> AT software?
>
> I've been saying that for years now.
> If ever there was a need for open source it's in the field of assistive
> technologies.

It isn't like open source doesn't exist. There are heaps of open source  
screen readers, and people have been doing them for years. But just as  
commercial products often don't rush to fix problems where there is no  
alternative anyway, open source projects can leave problems because they  
don't have someone qualified enough to scratch the particular itch.

There are SERIOUS usability bugs in AT software. Some of it is very  
complex software, getting deep into the OS, and crashes every hour or two  
- and has for years, through dozens of major and minor revisions. But  
wishing it wouldn't is pointless unless there is something else that  
doesn't. So by comparison, many things that only cost a few tens of  
minutes a day are generally minor usability bugs in the world of AT.

Cheers

Chaals

-- 
   Charles McCathieNevile, Opera Software: Standards Group
   hablo español  -  je parle français  -  jeg lærer norsk
chaals@opera.com    Catch up: Speed Dial   http://opera.com

Received on Friday, 22 June 2007 00:10:18 UTC