Re: An article about Yahoo's simplicity of design

> Jonathan, are you talking about people who are illiterate or those for
whom
> text is difficult to comprehend? (And maybe those two can amount to the
same
> thing.)

Both of these groups will be effected.
It is important to recognise that literacy and comprehension have
definitions that are more limited than the people that are referred to.
These disabilities represent a continuum.

It is at least as important to realise that the response must also be
suitable.
Google scores well here too.
Many query responses come with massive banner ads that require the user to
scroll to find the desired answer.
This is clearly not helpful or accessible.
Some people have great difficulty using a scroll bar.



jay@peepo.com

Jonathan Chetwynd
Special needs teacher / web accessibility consultant
education and outreach working group member, web accessibility initiative,
W3C
----- Original Message -----
From: Dick Brown <dickb@microsoft.com>
To: 'Jonathan Chetwynd' <jay@peepo.com>; Scott Luebking
<phoenixl@netcom.com>; <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 9:37 PM
Subject: RE: An article about Yahoo's simplicity of design


> Jonathan Chetwynd wrote on Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:18 AM:
> >>you might like to consider that some folks actually cannot read and
Yahoo
> is
> a real mess for them.
>
>
> Dick Brown
> Program Manager, Web Accessibility
> Microsoft Corp.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Chetwynd [mailto:jay@peepo.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:18 AM
> To: Scott Luebking; w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
> Subject: Re: An article about Yahoo's simplicity of design
>
>
> I am not quite sure where you got this from however www.google is far
> cleaner and the results suit me. try peepo as keyword and compare results.
> you might like to consider that some folks actually cannot read and Yahoo
is
> a real mess for them.
> If you care to visit www.peepo.com you will see graphics attempting to
> convey information. It is not perfect, nor finished. The first page will
> have subject areas similar to yahoo but graphical.
> I understand your meaning but it does not take into account the needs of
> people with cognitive disabilities
> tx
> jay@peepo.com
>
> Jonathan Chetwynd
> Special needs teacher / web accessibility consultant
> education and outreach working group member, web accessibility initiative,
> W3C
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Scott Luebking <phoenixl@netcom.com>
> To: <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 3:43 PM
> Subject: An article about Yahoo's simplicity of design
>
>
> > Yahoo as design champion
> >
> >
> > David Strom Special to The Daily Yomiuri
> >
> > Have you noticed that more and more Web sites are looking like the home
> > page of Yahoo these days? What started out as subtle satire
> > (naughty.com), then turned into portal envy (Excite, Netscape, Lycos and
> > others) now has become a full-fledged Web designer's template
> > (word.com). What is going on here?
> >
> > Well, the simple and basic reason is that Yahoo's home page is very
> > simple and basic. It is easy to navigate, it doesn't take too long to
> > load on even the slowest connections, and it just works well. Anyone,
> > even my daughter, can grasp what to do and where to go within a few
> > seconds of seeing it appear in a browser. Yahoo's home page doesn't have
> > much in the way of fancy graphics, has no spinning objects or scrolling
> > bars of information or other visual pollution. For the most part, it is
> > just text and a few small graphics, and on a plain white background too.
> >
> > Word.com's head designer talks about selling out his design principles
> > and just going with what the majority of visitors want. In a letter
> > posted on their Web site last month, he actually apologizes to his
> > readers and his authors (running older browser versions) who were unable
> > to view his pages because of his fancy designs and cutting-edge
> > technologies. I think this is a historic first and notable for the Web.
> >
> > The Web has gone full circle, from a place in 1995 that didn't even
> > contain any graphics at all (remember the text-based browsers such as
> > Lynx?) to a new visual art medium in 1997 to today's homogenous world
> > where text once again is king. And I couldn't be happier.
> >
> > I avoid places on the Web that require Shockwave to navigate their sites
> > as well as places that put navigation links inside graphics on their
> > home pages. Why should I take the time to download this junk when I have
> > other, more pressing things to do with my surfing time? So the
> > Yahoo-ization of the Web is a good thing, not because I like the Yahoo
> > design but because the message of ease of use is finally getting through
> > to Web designers. And we will all be better off as a result, since we
> > can get to where we want to go without waiting for the graphics to stop
> > spinning or scrolling and just be able to concentrate on the text.
> >
> >
>

Received on Thursday, 3 February 2000 04:09:42 UTC