- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:56:41 -0500 (EST)
- To: Scott Luebking <phoenixl@netcom.com>
- cc: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Scott, unless I explicitly say so I write my own personal opinions. No, I am saying that it is stupid to write well-structured content for blind people and then deny that content to people who do not identify themselves as blind. Yes, I am suggesting that technology which enables all users to get dynamically generated, well-structured content should not be used only to provide content for blind people, since this does not solve many of the range of accessibility problems out there and therefore is a relatively expensive use of resources. I think XML provides the technology to give all the users out there sensible, well structured content, and to provide tat only to people who identify themselves as blind is a siginificant mistake, and seriously short-sells the community of people who have dificulty in using the web as it is now due to disabilities of various kinds but happen not to be blind. In more general terms I am suggesting that it makes more sense, if you are trying to provide access to all users, to produce a single set of content which is well designed, than to produce a number of different designs for different groups, for the reasons I and others have outlined in this thread. Search engines and portals do not give the option of how to view websites, only the websites themselves or the client softwre do that at the moment. Charles McCN On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, Scott Luebking wrote: Hi, Charles I wasn't sure if you are aware that a number of people in the HCI world talk about how web pages can be viewed as interfaces which you use once and then throw away. Since search engines and portals give options to users to get the web pages in the formats they like, is there a reason why search engines and portals should give users the options to get their web web pages in glorious graphics mode? I'm very visual and about 50% of my thinking is in images. It is easier for me to work with information which I receive rendered graphically. If we can get paper towels in sizes and styles we like, shouldn't we also get web pages which are generated dynamically in the styles and formats we like? Shouldn't blind users get web pages which are easier for them to use? Are you suggesting that all users should get the same dynamically generated web pages when the technology like XML provide the ability to create web pages in formats individualized to each user likes? Scott Re: Is this the philosophy of the WAI? -- Charles McCathieNevile mailto:charles@w3.org phone: +61 409 134 136 W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI 21 Mitchell Street, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia (I've moved!)
Received on Tuesday, 21 December 1999 10:56:45 UTC