RE: conference:[Fwd: Web Developer Fall Conference 2000 * Sept. 1 8 * San Francisco]

> From:	Kynn Bartlett [SMTP:kynn-edapta@idyllmtn.com]
> 
> Let's not be too quick to condemn useful technology with the
> label of "maximizing the inaccessibility" -- nothing about the
> use of DHTML, Flash, etc. guarantees inaccessibility any more
> or less than the use of HTML itself does!
	[DJW:]  
	However, the audience for this sort of thing, when
	it appears in books, is generally people who
	want cook book solutions to improving their ability
	to impress people with spending power, rather than
	their ability to convey information to everyone that
	might want that information.  Generally such people
	either have no concept of an accessibility issue, or
	believe that adding accessibility will cost them
	money, and probably compromise the effect of the site,
	without gaining them money

	If the conference really is there to put across
	an accessibility angle, I think the re-post to the
	WAI list should have specifically pointed that out.

	The specific problem with HTML tricks is that
	they treat particular browsers as thin clients, rather
	than working within the defined semantics of the language.
	You can use them to provide better fallbacks, but I think
	this is rare.

	Things like flash tend to be used either as pure
	ornamentation, or to control a selling process such that
	the prospect only gets the intended message.  They could
	be used to really explain things, but that can often be
	done by using them in simple and obvious ways.

	Although I must admit I generally reject Flash, I don't think
	I've ever come across a site where it looked as though 
	it would help me, and I generally find it correlates with
	sites which are difficult to navigate and contain little
	information.
[DJW:]  

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Received on Wednesday, 6 September 2000 15:13:46 UTC