Re: How accessible is Netscape?

Dave,

What about using another product like IBM's home page reader or another 
speech enabled browser software.  I do believe that they work quite well 
with netscape as the underlying browser.  Netscape as a whole has not been 
very cooperative in making their browser accessible for screen readers, 
hence the development of using a product like IBM's home page reader.  it 
is compatible with all of the screen reader software that is currently 
available.  Webspeak is another piece of software which does the same as 
IBM home page reader.  Just a thought.

Jeffrey Pledger
President, AbleTV At 02:16 PM 7/3/01 -0400, David Poehlman wrote:
>Hello Martha and all,
>
>I've used Netscape in the past and in its day before ie became
>accessible and the assistive technologies became a better fit for it and
>vice versa, due in part at least, to the introduction of and
>improvements in Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA).
>
>I would hope but cannot provide an official response on this that the
>most accessible choice would rule the roost and that choices where
>possible are allowed whatever that choice needs to be at any given time.
>As netscape continues to move in its current direction, it seems to be
>more and more difficult for assistive technologies to support.  I
>stopped using it when 6 came out.  I also found that for me at least
>that even though I could stick with an older version, more and more
>pages were making a better fit with ie but that is another matter.
>
>Lastly, to make matters more complicated, I understand that it is not
>always just a matter of subbing one browser for another but that there
>network infrastructure considerations that may make this not possible or
>practical so as someone asked me and I now ask here, How much resource
>is too much.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Martha Wilkes" <Martha.Wilkes@sas.com>
>To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 1:57 PM
>Subject: How accessible is Netscape?
>
>
>The task of getting any web page to behave consistently across browsers
>is incredibly difficult already, as all the web designers and developers
>on the list are well aware. What does accessibility add to the equation?
>This issue came up in terms of testing for 508 compliance. How much
>should we focus on Netscape?
>
>Many of our customers use Netscape exclusively, and we were wondering if
>those customers (many of which are government agencies, universities,
>etc.) will be able to meet accessibility guidelines if they use only
>Netscape. The greater question: will their users be able to choose the
>technology that best suits them (which just might be IE for certain
>users, correct?), regardless of the agency's purchasing agreements?
>
>I have not had much luck finding out any information on Netscape's web
>site. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
>
>martha
>
>martha.wilkes@sas.com | 919.531.1416

Received on Saturday, 7 July 2001 19:35:59 UTC