Re: Accessibility of Microsoft Word Documents

On Mon, Mar 17, 2003 at 03:40:38PM +1200, Graham Oliver wrote:

> I am wondering why Word documents are not accessible to you?
> Would you care to share the details?

  Certainly. I am a Unix user, and as I don't really have the permissions to
  install anything like OpenOffice on the machines on which I am using, it is
  rather difficult to handle a proprietary, and binary, format such as Word.

  I'm afraid I don't feel like paying money for a machine on which to run
  Microsoft Windows, not for the explicit purpose of reading Word-documents.

  The Unix command 'strings' is, of course, an alternative, but as so many here
  persist in pointing out: plain text isn't always accessible, and the text
  that 'strings' produce is rarely plain.

  May I ask why you chose that particular format over one which is - or can
  be made to be - accessible, such as HTML ?

  I must admit that I have little experience with it, but I can't say I've
  run across programs that make Microsoft Word accessible to the blind, but I
  am certain they exist free of cost[1].



  [1]
   Or are we about to redefine - as many have before - accessibility to mean
   the availability of funds to buy certain types of systems ?

-- 
 - Tina Holmboe

Received on Monday, 17 March 2003 02:16:49 UTC