- From: Paul Davis <paul@ten-20.com>
- Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 18:52:37 +0100
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Hi Len, Thanks for your posting. The objective is to make websites readable thus accessible. The dilemma is that these software programs are not intelligent, and all too often are accepted as gospel.Text readers have come on a pace since Bobby was launched. Not wishing to take anything away from Bobby I recently received a trite e-mail telling me my website was not accessible and had failed the Bobby test (gutted) Investigation revealed that some page furniture (the logo) had no alt tags. (mia culpa)With a certain amount of irritation alt tags were added taking the total to over 2400 for a site only 10% complete. Since that day I have not put certain pages through a text reader as the repetition of "curly arrow left" and "curly arrow right" would drive me up the wall. But the individual who complained was happy. Not wishing to take anything away from these validation tools, they are very useful. I use them all the time it can save hours of work and are a great reference tool. They also set a standard. But as you are well aware they can also be abused, obtaining certification for the index page when later updates are totally inaccessible. The point is just because the site fails to get certification from Bobby or Wave or who ever, does not mean that the site is not accessible. And that is the end game. Or have I missed something here? smiles Paul Davis
Received on Wednesday, 5 July 2000 13:52:07 UTC