RE: Debunking the need for "text-only" parallel sites

A blind individual and a deaf individual and a person with mobility problems
and a group of people who suffer from cognitive impairments may have very
different needs, which would be better served by a single version which
transforms gracefully across media, and provides orientation, simplicity and
consistency as appropriate.

Testing by individuals, or with a variety of browsers, is a good way to
understand the types of problems that may arise. Without exhaustive testing
across a range of people with various disabilities and across a range of
technologies it is not a test of whether a site is accessible, merely whether
it is accessible to a certain group of users.

is my general 2c on that topic. For XML...

A page created in XML is simply a page - it depends on how it was done. The
same rules apply as with HTML - device independence, markup of structure
explicitly rather than by presentation conventions, etc. XML allows these,
but as with any technology sufficiently powerful to be useful it also allows
completely inaccessible design. When writing XML applications follow the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines. 

Which makes 4 cents worth of my personal opinion. Enough for now I think.

Charles McCathieNevile

On Fri, 21 May 1999, Jeff Guillaume wrote:

  Well, as my first post ever to the group... I've been debating for quite
  some time and had actually made up my mind to create a "text-only"
  version of my company's site.  However, it *would* be markup, and would
  be designed specifically for people with disabilities -- not just a
  "text-only" version in the strictist sense of the term.
  
  One blind individual who I pitched this idea to loved it, and will be
  testing it once it's complete.
  
  HOWEVER, my other question is: where does XML fit into all this?  Isn't
  it supposed to be the future of Web pages?  Once a page is created in
  XML, a browser on any platform or device can render it, hence making it
  accessible to everyone (this is the idea, anyway).  I have seen no
  discussion of XML in this group.  What say you all?  :)
  
  Thanks.
  
  Jeff
  

--Charles McCathieNevile            mailto:charles@w3.org
phone: +1 617 258 0992   http://www.w3.org/People/Charles
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative    http://www.w3.org/WAI
MIT/LCS  -  545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139,  USA

Received on Friday, 21 May 1999 10:25:06 UTC