RE: Accessible _By_

>Anthony Quinn said: . . . it would be great if there was a tool 
>which could simulate the user experience caused by accessibility 
>problems. . . . they have to have some insight into what the problem 
>feels like from a user's point of view.

Anthony, I think you hit an important nail on the head. When I 
conduct accessible design training, especially with the graphic 
designers who are my peers, the biggest questions they have are "How 
does this affect the end user?," "What does this look like?" and "You 
mean there are browsers that talk?".

My best insights into accessible design come from working with a 
woman who needs JAWS but not everyone has that kind of opportunity. 
That's why I try to give examples when I train (using my site at 
http://www.crittur.com/access) and why I'm now surveying designers to 
find out what kinds of examples might work even better for them.

That survey is at http://www.crittur.com/project and I am using the 
responses to help me create a teaching resource that helps me show 
people what a difference accessible design makes. I want to craft a 
practical tool for those people who say "Yes!" when asked "Do I need 
to draw you a picture?" The survey directs designers to visit four 
existing teaching sites that provide some examples of the effect of 
accessible design, and then asks those designers to evaluate the 
effectiveness of those sites.

Frankly, I need more respondents (grin) so I invite you to visit. 
But, Anthony, even if you don't participate in the survey, you can 
visit the sites I found that are doing what you describe -- and there 
aren't many. I searched and scoured and found that these four are the 
only sites (other than mine) that take that approach. (I'd welcome 
knowing about others.) Those sites are linked from my survey:

Web_Savvy at the University of Toronto, WAIM at the University of 
Utah, How PWDs use the Web (at WAI), and Len Kasday's site at Temple 
University.

I am not a techno-guy, I'm an artist (what Kynn warmly calls an 
arteest) and I need pictures drawn. I think a lot of other people do 
too.

Hope this helps.


. . / tom mcCain

tom@crittur.com
http://www.crittur.com
indianapolis, indiana usa

Received on Friday, 19 January 2001 06:50:11 UTC