RE: Re: [Web405] Exemplary Web Sites?

All,

as long as we code only for the visually impaired and code text only sites,
little or no progress is going to be made in the areas of coding sites to be
accessible to the myriad of other disabilities out there.

If any one cares to flame me do it privately.  But I will tell you this.  I
was blind till I was fourteen.  I have an auditory impairment and I have at
least one other disability.  Too many people with disabilities think only of
their problem and not of the whole picture.  If true progress is to be made
this attitude has got to change.  It is nothing more than the same attitude
that those without disabilities or impairments have with thin veneer over
the top. "If it does not affect me why should I care?".  We are all human
beings if we are not to help each other, at least get out of the way of
those who would.

Sincerely,

Mike Burks

> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of Kynn Bartlett
> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 5:09 PM
> To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: Fwd: Re: [Web405] Exemplary Web Sites?
>
>
> A user on the Web405 (Los Angeles area web people) list
> replied to me with the message quoted below.  I've sent my
> answer to the list already, but can any of our "blind web
> users" and others with disabilities answer the question of
> "are separate text-only versions of a site good or bad,
> and why?"  Your personal feedback would be welcome.
>
> >On Wednesday, 6/23/99, at 12:40 PM, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
> >>No, text-only sites are less than optimal for accessibility
> >>reasons; a correctly done website doesn't _need_ a text-only
> >>site to be usable by everyone.
> >
> >What? Can you explain how a properly formatted, text-only site
> would hinder
> >accessibility? Every blind web user I've talked to has said they much
> >prefer them. They don't have to wade through 4 or 5 (or more) image tags
> >before finding information, they don't have to deal with tables and
> >text-flow problems, their screen readers go right to the text
> and they get
> >their information quickly.
> >
> >(yeah, I know there are other disabilities out there, but I
> primarily think
> >about "blind users" when someone says make a site "usable by everyone"
> >because they present the greatest challenge to a visual designer)
> >
> >If a site is generated from a database, it's very little work to setup a
> >text-only equivalent. Static sites are a little more work, but at the
> >minimum I make a sitemap or table of contents that's text-only
> and uses no
> >special tags.
> >
> >I agree that a correctly designed site can be useable by everyone, but I
> >don't see how a text site can hinder blind users.
> >
> >Matt
> >(note that I'm partially blind myself and do everything I can to
> make sites
> >user-friendly to blind web surfers)
>
> --
> Kynn Bartlett  <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                   http://www.kynn.com/
> Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet      http://www.idyllmtn.com/
> Catch the Web Accessibility Meme!                   http://aware.hwg.org/
> Next Online Course starts August 2         http://www.kynn.com/+nextclass
>
>

Received on Thursday, 24 June 1999 00:40:54 UTC