Re: Single vs. multiple sites for accessibility

At 07:46 AM 7/5/2001 , Tom Gregg wrote:
>Here's my question: 
>In trying to meeting accessibility guidelines for multiple users, do most sites use a single site version or create multiple versions of the site? 

Most sites create a single version.

However, if you're using Clever Software [*] to run your web site and
manage your content, it may be easy to produce multiple versions 
optimized for your users' specific needs.

If you're already yanking content out of a database and dynamically
assembling the thing, then you're already on your way to that kind
of scenario.  If you aren't, then I would state this very clearly:
NEVER TRY TO MAINTAIN TWO OR MORE VERSIONS OF THE SAME CONTENT
MANUALLY.

It makes absolutely no sense to have manually maintained parallel
sites -- because this system will BREAK and be TOO MUCH WORK and you
will have problems.  If you find a need for multiple user interfaces,
then it is time to upgrade your web services (and probably your
content management system) -- the cheapest solution is to get
something like Apache + PHP + PostgreSQL, and start using that to
bang out alternate UIs based on explicit user choice.

If that's not an option for you (and, by the way, it SHOULD be; the
idea of a huge site full of static pages is a VERY dated concept and
living in 1993 is not good for you, long-term), then you should
stick with one version of the site and make it as broadly accessible
as possible for a one-size-fits-all design.

--Kynn

[*] Clever Software:  Without sounding like a walking, talking ad for
     my employer every time I open my fool mouth, Reef is one of the
     companies which makes Clever Software for doing dynamic creation
     and transformation of the web user interface.


--
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
Technical Developer Liaison
Reef North America
Accessibility - W3C - Integrator Network
Tel +1 949-567-7006
________________________________________
BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL.
________________________________________
http://www.reef.com

Received on Thursday, 5 July 2001 12:01:41 UTC