Re: verifying accessibility

At 10:43 AM 7/18/2000 , Massey, Nancy wrote:
>As I review the page, my first thought is I can't read the links on the left hand side because they are too small. I do not have a disability, but I am myopic.

Have you increased the default font size in your browser?

>When I run my mouse over the link hoping that the alt tag text will pop up and help me, nothing happens, which leads me to believe there is no alt text.

Alt text really is not -supposed- to pop up.  Titles, perhaps, should
pop up.

>  But when I view the code, I can see access key information and titles and some heavy coding to make the site accessible. Now I am confused.

Are you sure that your browser supports "popping up of titles" as
you wish it to do?

>I ran it through Bobby and it passed. Then I viewed it using Lynx and I can see the read the left hand links just fine.

Maybe you're using the wrong tools, then?  It sounds like your browser
may not be providing you with access to the accessibility-related
information.

>This is beyond me. What do you all think. Would you consider this site accessible?

I didn't look at the site; I've only read what you've written here.  That
said, I think we need to be a little more clear on something.  "Accessible"
is neither a term that can be used without reference to specific audiences,
nor a binary term when used alone.

In other words, something is not "accessible" or "inaccessible" in a
vacuum.  Accessibility is a continuum -- and accessibility needs to
refer to the human element.  Accessible to whom?  _More_ accessible
to whom?

On nearly any site, you can find something that someone may consider
inaccessible -- even if you follow all of the W3C's guidelines.  This
is because there is no such thing as perfect accessibility (or perfect
inaccessibility).

--Kynn

-- 
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                       http://kynn.com/
Director of Accessibility, Edapta                  http://www.edapta.com/
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet      http://www.idyllmtn.com/
AWARE Center Director                         http://www.awarecenter.org/
Blueprint for Single-A WCAG Accessibility      http://kynn.com/+blueprint

Received on Tuesday, 18 July 2000 14:06:38 UTC