Web Accessibility article on Slashdot

Slashdot is "news for nerds" -- really it's just a big bulletin
board system where open source advocates, linux geeks, and other
assorted techie types post their opinions.

Here's an article posted today:

Ask Slashdot: Corporate Websites and the Lack of Accessibility

[ News ] Posted by Cliff on Monday February 07, @12:09PM
from the properly-constructing-websites-for-the-disabled dept.

Mighty E asks: "It seems that Corporate America (and Corporate
The World) has not yet come to the realization that the Internet
is no longer limited to techies. I am a techie working for a
global pharmaceutical, which is about to go through a merger to
make it into the largest pharmaceutical in the world, Aventis
Pharmaceuticals. The new Web site depends solely on images for
navigation, and there is not a single alt= tag on the site.
Therefore, blind users cannot use the site." This practice
bothers me. Not only does it make browsing difficult for the
disabled, but it also interferes with text-only browsers and
text-to-speech engines. Not a smart practice. (More)

The slashdot front page is:

      http://www.slashdot.org/

The article seems to be (if I've figured out their URL system):

      http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/02/02/128213&mode=thread

Note that anyone can read, but to post as anything other than an
"Anonymous Coward" you'll have to register as a slashdot user.
I'd recommend doing that if you want to be taken seriously.

Also note that slashdot crowds tend to be very reactionary and
many people will deliberately "troll" by being offensive; other
folks are simply closed-minded and not afraid to express their
ignorance.  Usually I end up frustrated by reading "/." (that's 
"slash" "dot" in shorthand) so you might be too. :)

Good posts are "moderated up" which means their number ranking
increases; flames and trolls are "moderated down".  You may want
to read only those posts ranked 2 or more, or 3 or more, because
that cuts out most of the chaff.

I don't have time myself to tackle /. today, but some of you might.

-- 
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                   http://www.kynn.com/
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet      http://www.idyllmtn.com/
Become AWARE of Web Accessibility!                  http://aware.hwg.org/
The Spring 2000 Virtual Dog Show is now open!     http://www.dogshow.com/

Received on Monday, 7 February 2000 13:40:23 UTC