- From: Claude Sweet <sweetent@home.com>
- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 18:51:39 -0800
- To: Kynn Bartlett <kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com>
- CC: WAI Interest Group Emailing List <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Kynn Bartlett wrote: > > At 01:54 PM 11/18/1999 , Claude Sweet wrote: > >I get the feeling that there is a secret society promoting Accessibility > >and everyone who joins MUST suffer the pain and steep learning process > >in order to qualify for membership all the while someone keeps hollering > >"Its easy to do, if I can learn how to write accessible code - so can > >you!" > Fortunately, though, markup _is_ gawshawfulsimple, and is some of > the easiest computer "programming" [sic] you'll ever have to do. > Thus, it's not that bad to ask someone to learn HTML, if they want > to be able to do it right. Kynn, I respect you as a person, but I must disagree with your position. Asking someone to learn something is fine, but placing an unfunded MANDATE that everyone MUST learn html is entirely another matter. Education is constantly facing some politician passing a bill to have schools perform a specific task, but fails to provide the necessary resources to accomplish the mandate. It is not fair to impose the task of learning to hand write html code and become an experienced web designer. It would be great if funds are provided to establish a school or district wide department with paid web designers who will take the data from teachers to create an accessible web site. If it is so easy, why is it such a difficult job to DEMONSTRATE how easy it is to do it right? It is not that long ago that computers in education were reserved to people who could program them. The Apple II lent itself to simple programing and as public domain software appeared, the user base increased. The launching of the graphic user interface of the Macintosh produced an explosion of users in K-12 and high education. The development of commercial software opened up the use of commercial software to individuals of all ages that were not interested in getting under the hood of the computer and really didn't want to learn to program a computer to produce meaning finished materials. Creative minds quickly took to computing because it expanded their ability to communicate and accomplish things without becoming a computer engineer. I am sorry, but too many times I had a "born again DOS person" tell me how simple it was to learn DOS. It is just da ja vu to hear proponents of accessibility associate themselves with "its simple to learn to use html!". That may be true if your FULL-TIME occupation is developing and designing web pages; however, that is NOT TRUE when the creation of a web page is way down on your list of important daily tasks to complete and accomplish in a profession manner. When html templates are commonly available that demonstrate how to produce specific types of web pages, especially constructed to provide examples that educators in various grades and disciplines can use - then, and only then will you achieve your accessibility goals. Expose students to accessible web pages, train them to recognize accessible issue, expect them to produce accessible web pages, and eventually a whole new generation of decision makers will be in important positions to insure accessibility becomes the norm rather than the exception. That's my opinion and with $2.50 you have the price of a cup of coffee. Claude Sweet Educational Technologist
Received on Thursday, 18 November 1999 21:52:01 UTC