Re: Commercial Realities and Accessibility

At 10:40 AM 9/26/2000 , Dave  J Woolley wrote:
> > From: Kynn Bartlett [SMTP:kynn-edapta@idyllmtn.com]
> > CSS is unreliable, and the needs of web designers (and site 
>         [DJW:]  
>         wants, not needs.

This is a very dangerous distinction to start drawing; especially
since you can then turn it around so that the disabled user's
"needs" are classified as "wants" as well.

It is vitally important to recognize that there _are_ valid
"needs" on the web designer's end, such as "the need to
maintain a specific branding", "the need to please my boss",
and "the need to keep my job."

In the case we're talking about here, it's very easy to imagine
a "need" for a specific font which is not installed on the
user's browser, but which is important for maintaining a specific
visual look on the site.  The current alternatives are either:

(a) Require the user to download and install the font, or
(b) Provide a textual graphic with proper ALT text and other
     markup which degrades cleanly.

You _can't_ discount the author's "need" for that specific
font.  Doing so shows a complete lack of regard for the
web designer and the web design process.


-- 
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/
Accessibility Roundtable Web Broadcast           http://kynn.com/+on24
What's on my bookshelf?                         http://kynn.com/books/

Received on Tuesday, 26 September 2000 15:51:23 UTC