Two new sites

I have recently completed (or nearly so) two sites that I've tried to make
as accessible as possible while retaining a pleasing, commercially viable
look. (My clients didn't give a damn about accessibility. I shoved it down
their throats, doing the work on my own time. One's response was "I haven't
sold anything to a blind man yet," and you know what? I bet he never does.)

Anyway, being a person with reasonably good eyesight (corrected to almost
20/20 anyway), I obviously have all sorts of biases, most of which are
probably subconscious. Although I've spent a good amount of time with
pwWebspeak listening to the sites (and trying to navigate it with my eyes
closed), I just know I've missed things.

So, I would appreciate any help that the members of this list can provide.
Those willing to take a look (how visually biased our language is), should
point their browsers to the links below:

The first site is artistically more interesting (well, I like it better),
but uses tables for formatting and a few invisible spacer images. Just
wouldn't work without them, and my client is still using Netscape 2! Still,
it sounds okay to me. You can find it at Vallarta Unveiled:
http://vallartabooks.com. Note for users of IE4, access keys are enabled.
For a list of access keys for any page, hit Alt (Cmd) k. Also, all photos
link to image descriptions. With the idea in mind that people who can see
the page might go to these pages, I made them as visually appealing as the
rest of the site.

The second site is less interesting (it's a real estate site... bores me to
tears), but it provides both image and text only versions. The text only
version is validated to HTML 4.0 (strict) and uses cascading style sheets
for formatting. It's a very simple looking site. The site is Tropicasa
Realty: http://tropicasa.com. Access keys enabled here, too. Same story, Alt
+ K brings up a list.

Both sites should validate to HTML 4.0 and CSS1. They make extensive use of
style sheets. And both validated on Bobby (all pages), though I've made a
couple of changes and have to recheck.

I would appreciate any feedback, criticism, comment, whatever that anyone
has to offer.

Thanks in advance.

Charles F. Munat
Code Red Internet Solutions
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
coder@acnet.net
011-52-322-31094

Received on Saturday, 24 October 1998 23:33:59 UTC