Web Accessibility Myths and The Kynn Challenge (was: Looking for examples of web sites following guidelines)

At 09:20 PM 10/14/1999 , Scott Luebking wrote:
>One of the professors I've been talking with is interested in seeing
>a web site which follows the guidelines, preferably one which is
>science-based, housed at a university or highly interactive.  The
>concern is that a web site which follows the guidelines may not
>have a good appearance or may not provide enough functionality.

Hi, your very question shows that your professor is laboring under
one of the most common myths of accessible web design.  Making a
web page accessible _in no way should affect the appearance_, and
as for functionality, accessibility considerations _enhance_
functionality rather than decrease it.

Are there a lot of really kick ass accessible pages out there?  No,
not really, because most web designers are ignorant, or lazy, or
both.  But I have yet to find a SINGLE web page, no matter how 
advanced, that could not be made accessible quite easily, without
losing anything in appearance or functionality!

If you want a reverse challenge back to your professor, I would
invite her to select a web page -- any web page -- that she feels
is highly attractive and functional, and I will show how easily
that page can be made accessible in most every case, with no loss
of appearance or functionality whatsoever.

Take the Kynn challenge!


-- 
Kynn Bartlett                                    mailto:kynn@hwg.org
President, HTML Writers Guild                    http://www.hwg.org/
AWARE Center Director                          http://aware.hwg.org/

Received on Friday, 15 October 1999 17:35:49 UTC