- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com>
- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 15:43:55 -0800
- To: Judy Brewer <jbrewer@w3.org>
- Cc: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>, Lovey@aol.com, w3c-wai-ig@w3.org, jeff@isyndicate.com
At 06:30 p.m. 03/25/99 -0500, Judy Brewer wrote: >Right--the final article is at >http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/128454.html. From that article: >Jeff Thomas, director of marketing at iSyndicate, admits that accessibility >isn't a top priority at the San Francisco-based Internet content service >provider right now. This is obvious to me from looking at their site. ;) >But, he adds: "It's on our radar screen. It seems like >something we would ethically want to do. This is a major problem as I see it -- accessibility is _not_ about ethics, _not_ about being "kind" to the "disabled", _not_ about "doing something out of the goodness of our hearts." Accessibility is just plain common sense and good business sense; it's not an optional add-on like some charity contribution, it's a basic part of putting a web page on the Internet! >The short-term answer is we >aren't doing anything now. The long-term answer is it’s definitely >something we’d want to consider." Yeah, and we're also considering giving $100 to the orphanage down the street, too. Jeez. Accessibility is neither a short-term nor a long-term "optional feature". It's part of daily life for many people who use the web, and in this case, iSyndicate is sending the message "we don't care if you can get at our content, you don't count if you have a need (ANY NEED) for accessible web design." I don't mean to tar and feather poor iSyndicate for one simple quote (which may be out of context) in a news article, but I have seen many people taking the same approach that Jeff does here, and it amazes me how many companies simply Don't Get It. And it frustrates the heck out of me. (NOTE: Added jeff@isyndicate.com to the CC list.) -- Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com> http://www.kynn.com/ Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet http://www.idyllmtn.com/ Professional ALT-text author http://www.kynn.com/+alt Spring 1999 Virtual Dog Show! http://www.dogshow.com/ WWTBLD? Validate your HTML! http://validator.w3.org/
Received on Thursday, 25 March 1999 18:48:06 UTC