- From: <Robert_Savellis@agd.nsw.gov.au>
- Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 09:52:47 +1000
- To: "rich@accessexpressed.net" <rich@accessexpressed.net>
- cc: "'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>, "'webwatch-l@teleport.com'" <webwatch-l@teleport.com>
Rich, I am the webmaster for the NSW Attorney General's Department in Australia. When I designed our first website, it was based on flat HTML. As this department had an emphasis on providing access to community, I based the design on a collection of principles that were called the AUS Accessibility Standards, that were also adopted by other NSW government agencies at the time. As such, we were proud of the accessible nature of the website. Two months ago, we launched our new website. This website is at www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au This site resides on a Domino web server. My greatest concern at moving over to Domino was that the HTML component was being removed from the control of the author, and placed in the hands of the web server. Effectively, the author creates the content in Rich Text Format, and the Server calculates the HTML equivalent when rendering it over the web. As such, I was worried that I would not be able to apply access principles to this site as with the previous. There was a lot of trial and error in the design of our new website, and I even posted a few questions on this list regarding the access implications of Domino. In the end however, a combination of the following has made our site as accessible (or close to) as the previous site. 1. Configuring the template databases to render HTML in an accessible way. 2. The use of HTML in Notes Web Pages, where appropriate. 3. The use of many Accessibility principles in the (non-HTML) design of the pages. I will note that before launch we asked the National Federation of Blind Citizens of Australia to do a thorough testing of the site. They made some very constructive suggestions, but on the whole were very pleased with the results. Rich, I hope that this has been of some help. Regards Robert Savellis NOTE: Unlink your case, our website does not use the standard look or feel of a Notes database. It looks like an ordinary HTML based website. Rich Caloggero <rich@accessexpressed.net> on 05/08/98 06:00:31 Please respond to "rich@accessexpressed.net" <rich@accessexpressed.net> To: "'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>, "'webwatch-l@teleport.com'" <webwatch-l@teleport.com> cc: (bcc: Robert Savellis/FSS/NSW_AG) Subject: 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 19:51:41 UTC