RE: Fwd from CHI-WEB: Amazon's version for the Visually Impaired

Harry,

well said!

Sincerely,

Mike Burks

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of Harry Woodrow
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 12:50 PM
To: Scott Luebking; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: Fwd from CHI-WEB: Amazon's version for the Visually
Impaired


I have commented below in line

Harry WOodrow

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of Scott Luebking
Sent: Saturday, 15 December 2001 1:30 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: Fwd from CHI-WEB: Amazon's version for the Visually
Impaired


Hi,

A number of things I'm involved with are outside of the disabled world
which exposes me to a variety of views.  So, let me ask some hard
questions about universal design.

1.  Does universal design mean that the experience of one person has to be
    limited so that another person can have a similar experience,
    e.g. a slick, flashy design?

To the contrary, The experience of all can be richer through universal
design. Good design is not slick or flashy but effective and useable.

2.  If there is a technique which some people can use to speed up their
    use of information, but other people can't use and will be slower
    at processing information, should the technique not be used?
    What if there is no other equivalent technique that increases
    the speed that a person can use the information?
Of course, if you have to go into a building you have a ramp and stairs and
maybe a lift.  All should have equal prominence and it is the user's choice
which to use.  You do not however design for just a particular class of
user, after all if we designed buildings for people in wheelchairs a lot of
walking people would get very sore heads.

3.  Does a person using access technology have the same experience as
    someone not using access technology even if they are referencing
    the same web page?

No one has the same experience in everything.  The experience is the sum
total of what is available and what background and knowledge and preferences
the user has.  To me the important thing is that the experience of all is
rich.


Now if you are asking should the user have a certain skill set and a certain
set of equipment to use it that may be a different story.



Harry Woodrow

Just a few thoughts.

Scott

> Design for all, Universal Design, now we begin to see relevance of these
> terms.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Mike Burks

Received on Friday, 14 December 2001 13:17:42 UTC