Lotus Notes/Domino and accessability by the blind

Our company, Very Special Arts Massachusetts,  is developing a website, 
www.accessexpressed.net,  which provides disability accessibility information 
related to various cultural organizations (theaters, museums, and other 
venues). The site, as currently implemented, uses a Lotus Domino server and a 
Notes database. The interface uses the standard look and feel convensions of 
Lotus Notes, and is cumbersome at best, down right inaccessible at worst to 
blind users. My question is: is there a more accessible set of tools/interface 
builders which may make the interface more usable by the blind? Do we need to 
redesign completely using a different database? Can we build a better interface 
on top of what already exists?
	While I understand the basics of html, client server architecture, etc I no 
nothing of Notes and Domino and the ways in which it is or is not customizable. 
I understand that these tools are quite popular for they provide a seemingly 
flexable and consistant way of designing interfaces on top of a fairly 
sophisticated database with minimal effort. It seems that one of the biggest 
barriers to accessibility is the lack of accessability-related features 
integrated into most popular web publishing environments. I think a good easy 
to use powerful publishing environment whose designers are aware of 
accessibility issues would be a big win for disabled people net-wide.


									Rich Caloggero
					Very Special Arts Massachusetts
					voice: (617) 350-7713
					e-mail: rich@accessexpressed.net or rjc@mit.edut

Received on Tuesday, 4 August 1998 16:01:43 UTC