Re: The visual Web vs. seamless accessibility (was Re: RIT - Javascript)

DL: Hello, I'm new here. My name is Davey Leslie, I'm in Japan.
Anyway...

 
> RD:: "I maintain it's better to have too much information than not
> enough..."

DL: Ah, hmm, well... I'm trying to figure this out, because it's clearly
important, but I go round and round on this issue. When sighted people view a
graphic layout, there are subtle visual cues that let us know "oh, this is
important; this is not." Our eyes do not move in a linear fashion, but
instead, scan the page and pick out the useful bits quickly. As designers, we
use this fact to our advantage-- perhaps it's even one of our main tools. But
then we come to the aural user. If we include a paragraph of description for
each and every graphic, aren't we warping the relationships between the
different bits of information, and, in effect, challenging the aural user to
wade through the swamp of information and pick out the useful bits? Isn't
there a point of information overload? Isn't a "clean" text-only page better?
Is a wall of information really better? I really don't know. (And then I start
to wonder, "hmm.. what would be a really cool aural page?")
 
-- 
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inx: english by design 
inx@ryoma.i-kochi.or.jp
TEL (0888) 44-0352  FAX (0888) 44-6251
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Received on Monday, 4 May 1998 18:34:40 UTC