Re: Web Accessibility Myths and The Kynn Challenge (was:

Hi, Kynn

I'm more in the position of giving some advice on what issues should be
in an agreement between the professor and the web designer.  The
professor is unaware of web page accessibility and may be having a gut
reaction that that the cost of accessibility might move the web site out
of the range of his budget.  The concern that the appearance or
functionality may be diminished in an accessible web site only heights
the worrying.  For many people at this point, web accessibility is
fairly theoretical with little in real life to point to.

Scott


> By the way, are you really saying that unless other sites are
> proven accessible, your web designer won't create accessible
> web sites, despite the fact that anyone with the barest understanding
> of web accessibility can see, quite obviously, that accessible
> design will _not_ affect functionality and appearance?
> 
> Is your designer just thick, or does she somehow have some sort
> of proof that accessible web design _will_ harm a site's appearance
> and functionality?
> 
> It's very hard to fight at shadows, and in this case, the shadows are
> your web designer's ignorance and misconceptions.  It's not enough
> for her to hear from people who actually do understand the subject
> that web accessibility is not harmful?
> 
> I'm really at a loss as to what to say.  The WCAG were released in
> May of this year, and it's been a VERY hard uphill battle, thanks
> to misinformation like those spread by your web designer, to get
> ANYONE to comply with them over the last 5 months.  If people
> continue to demand "proof" such as this, then we may never actually
> get around to accessible web design being the standard!  "Nobody
> else is doing it, why should I?  I have no knowledge at all of the
> issues, but I'm SURE it would simply WRECK my design!"
> 
> Why do you listen to that kind of argument?

Received on Friday, 15 October 1999 18:30:25 UTC