Re: Alertbox: Alternative Interfaces for Accessibility

For my money he is spot on both in the statement that the best 
experiences have design specifically for the users, and that this is not 
an approach that is going to or even should be adopted in most cases 
where they don't have the resources to maintain it properly.

It is difficult to reconcile the gestures that he proposes with readily 
available technology of today, although there is no reason why the 
technology should remain hard to find - it has been developed years ago. 
In a use of mice that might make sense for people who don't actually see 
where the mouse is, Opera already allows for a number of gestures - some 
usability work with that might be a good test for the more speculative 
parts of the article. Finding a spot in 3-dimensional space is often 
very hard for people who are blind, but making a gesture which involves 
directions but not precise positioning is easier. (This is not perfectly 
true. People manage to light a cigarette wherever their head. But it is 
an oft-repeated action for most smokers...)

cheers

Chaals

David Poehlman wrote:

>what he fails to take into account is that god structural mark up and good
>use of it being made by rendering technologies can go a long way toward
>achieving the goal and already has.  For instance, jaws and soon window eyes
>will allow you to quickly scan a web page for certain types of information
>such as paragraphs, headings, form controlls, links, lists and much much
>more.  There will be more progress in this area from the big two and as
>resources are available, the gains will be tremendous.  What he propposes
>here seems to be to be to derail all of that for something new and as yet
>untried.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "John Foliot - bytown internet" <foliot@bytowninternet.com>
>
>Not sure how many people on this list read Jacob... sometimes I agree with
>him, sometimes I think he's way off base, but the topic line is relevant to
>this list (and this time I tend to agree with him <grin>).
>
>Cheers!
>
>JF
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jakob Nielsen [mailto:alertbox@nngroup.com]
>Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 1:20 PM
>To: Alertbox Announcement List
>Subject: Alertbox: Alternative Interfaces for Accessibility
>
>
>Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for April 7 is now online at:
>   http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030407.html
>
>Summary:
>The key difference between user interfaces for sighted users and blind
>users is not that between graphics and text; it's the difference between
>2-D and 1-D. Optimal usability for users with disabilities requires new
>approaches and new user interfaces.
>
>  
>

Received on Monday, 7 April 2003 17:37:38 UTC