- From: Al Gilman <asgilman@access.digex.net>
- Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 14:07:46 -0400 (EDT)
- To: w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org
1. at the very bottom of this message is the advice I gave someone. So far as I know, this is good advice. 2. in between is some meta-discussion of when and how to involve the Lynx developers, who double as Lynx user support, in cases involving either a) the user was using Lynx or b) Lynx has provided useful diagnostic information. 3. I hope WAI-ER-IG will give serious thought to this option as regards the first step in processing a complaint. Specifically, that the complainer writes to the complainee with a copy to a third-party referree, in this case third party is a WAI mailbox. 4. Let me disclose one preconception: So far as I know, email (free-form speech) is on the whole a more appropriate technology for collecting feedback from the public than web forms (any forms). If the current generation of user feedback forms were replaced with document templates, the net result would be a more effective customer-service program. The customers would feel more as though they were listened to, and the businesses would learn more from the data they collect. Al ----- Forwarded message from asgilman ----- From asgilman Sat Jul 18 10:32:03 1998 Subject: coaching users on how to deal with trouble To: lynx-dev@sig.net, kford@teleport.com Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 10:32:03 -0400 (EDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL15 (25)] Quoted below is some advice I gave a user on another list. In it I invite mail to this list. Please see if you agree that we want mail to come here under the conditions I set forth in the invitation. The message quoted below contains what may be a better synthesis on the topic of "how to get help when you have trouble on the web" than I have managed to scratch out in the past. I would welcome comments from that angle as well. The key differences in the new strategy: Tell the user to write to the site with cc:lynx-dev. If they are using lynx when they have the trouble, cc:lynx-dev. If there is evidence about the problem that Lynx has turned up, cc:lynx-dev. The webmaster may need to ask "what does this error message in Lynx actually mean?" Finding people willing to trace a failure is a problem. The willingness is better on webwatch and the skills are better on lynx-dev. Kelly, do you have any suggestions here? Actually, I just got an idea for what W3C can do... Al ----- Forwarded message from Al Gilman ----- >From asgilman Sat Jul 18 10:06:05 1998 From: Al Gilman <asgilman> Message-Id: <199807181406.KAA01331@access4.digex.net> Subject: Re: FYI>Encyclopaedia Britannica Launches eBLAST; The "Thinking... To: easi-sem@ase-osfmail.isc.rit.edu Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 10:06:02 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <01BDB1CC.C0F26E00@sf-dnpqn-021.compuserve.net> from Strategies for Success at "Jul 17, 98 09:48:32 pm" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL15 (25)] to follow up on what Strategies for Success said: > I tried getting into this web and was refused. Any ideas? Yes. There is an email address for technical problems with their site <webmaster@eb.com>. I got this from Kelly Ford's excellent review of this site which you can find in the webwatch-l archives; start at <http://www.teleport.com/~kford/webwatch.htm>. The problem is that the technical support people for the site will need technical information about the browser setup you are using; technical details that you as a user typically don't have at your fingertips. I see you sent this mail from CompuServe. Were you using the CompuServe browser when you failed to get in at eBLAST? They may have an email address for user support. To get a problem like this fixed, start by trying to connect three parties around one trouble report: yourself, someone involved in technical support for the site, and someone who can help with the technical details of the browser installation. The trouble report should be filed as email from you to webmaster@eb.com with a copy to whoever you feel you can call on for browser and/or screen reader support. Do be as specific as you can about what you were doing when it failed, and what browser you are using. Do mention in your report that Lynx gives a "badly formed relative URL -- stripping leading dots" warning message as it accesses this site. You can copy <lynx-dev@sig.net> on your message for follow-up on that detail. If the browser is Lynx, it is appropriate to copy <lynx-dev@sig.net>. If you have a disability, and the problem deals with web technologies (as this one does), it is appropriate to copy <webwatch-l@teleport.com>. To summarize: There are two keys to successfully resolving technical problems in a network environment. At this time with the web, they are not that easy, but you can try. The two keys are - Write a clear trouble report. What did you do before the failure that worked. If it failed following a link, give the URL to the page where the link was. Give you browser make and, if you can figure it out, model. Knowing the operating system is also important. - Get the same problem description (this written trouble report) to all the people responsible for supporting any piece of the network that may have caused the problem. Make them a team to solve the problem. Email is great for this if you just "copy all recipients" on follow-ups to the trouble report. Al Gilman [all quote below] > > R > > -----Original Message----- > From: RMacl49796@aol.com [SMTP:RMacl49796@aol.com] > Sent: Friday, July 17, 1998 6:24 AM > To: easi-sem@osfmail.isc.rit.edu > Subject: Re: FYI>Encyclopaedia Britannica Launches eBLAST; The "Thinking... > > In a message dated 98-07-17 09:17:55 EDT, you write: > > > There is a small technical problem with the way the site is set > > up. I have received warning messages indicating that the site is > > using a badly-formed redirect URL. Somebrowsers may cough > > on this glitch. > > > > If you use the long form Roberta sent, do you get through? > > The url is all lower case letters > maybe that is the problem you are > encountering. I have included here the text only version of the page which is > not loaded with blinking graphics and is not like graphic intense frames > version on index page. > > <A HREF="http://www.eblast.com/index_t.html"> > http://www.eblast.com/index_t.html</A> > > Let me know if this works for you....... 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Received on Thursday, 13 August 1998 14:06:11 UTC