- From: Jonathan Chetwynd <j.chetwynd@btinternet.com>
- Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 07:52:36 +0100
- To: Jim Ley <jim@jibbering.com>
- CC: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Jim with server side scripts unless I am mistaken one looses the benefit of open-source, and this is not to be dismissed lightly. In an environment where one is trying to promote accessibility the learning route needs every encouragement. Jonathan Jim Ley wrote: >"John Foliot - bytown internet" <foliot@bytowninternet.com> wrote in >message news:GKEFJJEKDDIMBHJOGLENIEOFCMAA.foliot@bytowninternet.com... > > > >>What concerns me the most is that 99 times out of 100 there are >> >> >alternative > > >>solutions which developers can emply which will deliver similar or >> >> >identical > > >>functionality, yet not require the end users system set up to match a >>certain profile - just about everything *important* that you might do >> >> >with > > >>JavaScript can be done with a server side script. >> >> > >The main problem here though is you lose response time, slowing the >interaction down does not make content usable, so it's often important to >use script to ensure that users find the experience responsive enough. >What's really needed are techniques examples of how you can do both >without undue burden (ie have javascript which degrades gracefully) > > > > >>Using a combination of >>server include and session tracking (cookies?) can provide almost >> >> >identical > > >>functionality to the end user as having a "popup" open and close... >> >> >after > > >>all the main reason (especially in the situation you illustrate) is to >> >> >keep > > >>a user session open. >> >> > >I personally find session cookies more invasive than script, and >certainly harder to provide sensible degrade paths. > > > >>How is that valuable or accessible? Besides, in my experience, >>Powerpoint presentations *usually* require a "voice" to explain the >>"slides" - it is rare that all relevant information is included into >> >> >the > > >>slide - more often it is bullet points or eye candy to be used in >>conjunction with a narrative. >> >> > >Absolutely, I'd love to make PowerPoint presentations accessible, they >certainly need commentary (be it audio or an attendant text one) but the >technology isn't there yet, even if the specs are - my current "best >effort" relies on script and lots of different options - audio+PPT, >audio+JPEGs, SVG, Flash, PocketPC, with the fallback situation be "here's >the audio, here's the slide materials make of it what you can, I can't >really give you a player" with the hope that there's some combination >everyone can access. We don't produce text equivalent of the audio as it >would be an undue burden on the content we produce currently, but it >could easily be done. > > > >>Thowing that into an eLearning application >>does a disservice to the end user - again here the accessibilty issue >> >> >is > > >>more about requiring installed software rather than the content being >> >> >served > > >>up. >> >> > >It also requires that the software both exists, and is accessible, you >could easily create an accessible to published w3 standards e-learning >app, but it would be utterly useless as not a UA in the world could do >anything with it, to actually deliver more than HTML+images you have to >live within what's provided by UA's - Integration of content-types is as >you say the most serious problem. > >Jim. > > > > > >
Received on Saturday, 19 October 2002 02:52:16 UTC