- From: Rich Caloggero <rich@accessexpressed.net>
- Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 13:39:08 -0400
- To: "'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Hi. This is Rich Caloggero. I posted the original message on this thread. The website in question is http://www.accessexpressed.net. I'm still a bit unclear as to the relationship between Notes and Domino. Which is the publishing environment? I've been assuming that Domino is Lotus' webserver, simmilar to Apatchy and etc. It just serves pages. The publishing environment is Notes. It provides a way to specify the look and feel of the site and takes care of generating the HTML from the specifications. How exactly does this happen? How much control over the HTML being generated does the designer have? Does it use all the new features of HTML4 (label fields on form buttons, etc)? The biggest problem we are having is with the bullet (or twistie) frobs which appear anywhere an object is referenced in a list or database view. See the directory or events pages on www.accessexpressed.net. I've seen this same kind of layout all over the net, mostly on webpages providing an interface to usenet or mailing list archives, a great application for a database. The twisties can be labeled (and are labeled as "+") and thus when images are turned off, clickable plus signs appear next to the text of items in the list. For example, we have an alphabetized index of all venues in our directory. The letters a through z appear with twisties next to them. Clicking on the graphic opens up the list, inserting the database items after the propper letter and changing the graphic to indicate that a expansion of the list is in affect. Clicking on the twistie again collapses the list removing the database items. This is hard to use with a screen reader. The designer says that the text to which the graphic refers cannot be made an anchor (clickable link). Why? This kind of layout appears throughout our site. Please excuse my rambling, but I want to understand this stuff so I can make clear and hopefully informative recomendations to our web designers. Is there any technical docs on this stuff I can look at? Any info you can provides is most appreciated. On Tuesday, August 04, 1998 8:16 PM, Robert_Savellis@agd.nsw.gov.au [SMTP:Robert_Savellis@agd.nsw.gov.au] wrote: > > > > > 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 Thursday, 6 August 1998 13:40:18 UTC