Re: A "one size fits all" personalized web page?

Hi, Marja

I'm looking at the issue of personalizing web pages which are generated
dynamically.  The question of default is kind of interesting and
philosophical.  What does default mean?  A common interpretation is options
which would be desired by the largest user group.  Would the format that
most users choose be appropriate for disabled users too?  Would using a format
which is more disabled friendly cause many users to choose another format?

While I understand the theoretical goal of pages having enough information
that they can be tailored to needs of the disabled, the HTML representation
causes some of that information, i.e. semantic information, to be lost.
As a result, there will often be a conflict between the HTML representing
web pages in a format which is "well-structured" graphically at the same
time that the web pages are "well-structured" in a semantic sense.  
I'm not very convinced that this is often achievable without compromises
which diminish one or both goals and result in lesser quality.
Often the result is that web pages are often not organized in a
semantic fashion and harder to use by blind people.

I don't know if W3 has the resources, but I believe it would be very
helpful to do some actual tests on types of web pages which are easier
to use by blind users.  Such data/information would be useful in making
technical decisions and also convincing web designers/managers
on why they should incorporate certain approaches.

Scott


> Hi Scott!
> 
> I don't think these concepts conflict. Personalization is good in a sense
> that users can tailor the pages according to their needs. However, we
> shouldn't force users to tailor, we still need to offer good defaults. In
> WAI our goal is that the pages have enough information so that they can be
> tailored to meet the needs of the disabled users. That is why there is
> equivalent information. To help the management of the pages it is good that
> this information is attached to the page that is frequently updated etc.
> because then the information is easier to find and it is less probable that
> the equivalent information is not updated at the same time as the other
> information. There may then be gateways etc. that tailor the information to
> the needs of a specific group.
> 
> Marja

Received on Friday, 24 December 1999 08:36:22 UTC