Scope creep

Dear group,

i have been out of the loop for a while, but would like to share experience
from a while back, which still may be of use.

Working with Perl and CGI back in 1998, i was requested, way down the line
in the project, to put the main output of the site into two columns instead
of one. This simple request absolutely floored me, and i was unable to
wrestle with the code to perform, what was in essence, adding to a table on
the basis of whether or not the output was odd or even.

This is far from the only time which i have encountered difficulties, with
what i know as "scope creep": the requirements of the project changing at a
time when it is nearly impossible to alter code, as it has already been
hard coded to fulfil initial requirements, which those who are in charge of
the development of the project think they can change without causing much
difficulty.

My experience of accessibility is much the same: planning for users with
disabilities must come at the outset of the project, otherwise the
developers are set with a task of Sisyphus, wrestling with mountains of
non-accessible code, and attempting "patches", or "fixes", when
accessibility should have been a cornerstone of the initial development.

As i have said, i have been out of the loop for a while. I presume that
such a simple concept as that expressed above, is standard. My apologies if
i am attempting to teach my grandmother to suck eggs.

Lewis.

*— Mr Robinson —*
BA (hons) Oxon.

271b Liverpool Road
London N1 1LX