- From: Mike Scott <mscott@msfw.com>
- Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 14:11:17 -0500
- To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
One pitfall to be wary of: Embedding audio shouldn't be INSTEAD of designing the site to be accessible to third-party assistive technologies. I've heard well-meaning developers who are new to accessibility pitch that approach a few times... -----Original Message----- From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of David Poehlman Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 7:56 PM To: David Poehlman; Kelly Ford; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Subject: Re: Is embedded audio helping accessibility? another thought is that it does no apparent harm and could help some. On Thu, 2 Aug 2001, Kynn Bartlett wrote: > At 8:36 AM -0700 2001/8/02, Kynn Bartlett wrote: > >Assuming it's coded sensibly, it's roughly neutral, but tends to be more > >of a "help" than a "hindrance". It's usually true that most users with > >special needs have assistive technology, but not always. > > I want to amend this. > > It's usually true that most _blind_ users have assistive technology, or > at least that they would need it to get that far. Without some sort of > assistive tech (screenreader, etc) won't be able to get to your web site > in the first place; simply starting an application (such as a web > browser) would be next to impossible. > > However, it's also usually true that most users who have _other_ > disabilities likely _don't_ have an appropriate assistive technology > program or device. In this case, talking about the benefits of an > audio track, there are two groups who would benefit from such a > thing: > > 1. People who can't see the text. > > 2. People who can't read the text. > > The first group are the blind users; these are the ones who _probably_ > already have a solution, in the form of a screenreader (or Braille > terminal or whatever). > > The second group includes a NUMBER of people -- adult non-readers, > people reading in a foreign language, children, and people with > cognitive disabilities that prevent them from being able to read > text easily, but who may be able to understand spoken words -- or > spoken words PLUS text -- easier than text alone. > > These audiences overwhelmingly do NOT have access to screenreaders > and the like, and for those people, embedded audio would indeed > prove beneficial. > > So while I make the correction above, I still stand by my suggestion > that you not remove this, as it could help some people. > > --Kynn > > -- > 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 Friday, 3 August 2001 15:05:46 UTC