- From: Steven Dale <sdale@stevendale.com>
- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 18:25:47 -0500 (EST)
- To: <lists@zstudio.co.uk>
- Cc: <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
LOL When I received David's message, I shuddered than burst out laughing. No disrespect towards David, it was the whole point of coming full cirle over the weekend. I originally sent an email suggesting more skip type links through the entire page to skip to different sections. I knew I was going to get some flack back, but made the post anyway. Because it is a needed solution for the here and now. Anyway, many suggested that we dont need skip navigation because headers could be caught by the user agents for header navigation. So I then asked if anyone knew of development in that area. Now, asking that got David's reply saying that headings arent being used. (which I knew :) but wanted to make a point of having someone else state it this time.) Now I am an accessibility consultant and know how to make pages accessible. But what does this show to the "masses". We, the so-called experts are going around in circles here. Where are the masses going to get the correct information? Which is correct? Skip links or Navigation? or both? THERE IS NO CONSENSUS among us. What d0 you expect the masses AND Microsoft etc. to do? Build websites and tools to do accessiblity only to find out they took the wrong turn? They arent going to waste their time and money until there is a direction to go that the majority back. WCAG and 508 and the other guidelines are a good start. But they are just that... guidelines. Too specific in some ways, too general in others. I used to work on Bell Labs specifications when I was a real-time embedded system telecom software engineer. There were similar rouind trips there too. But we didnt expect any action on a specification until we felt comfortable with going in a certain direction and then went that way... ALL of us experts. We made a few mistakes and corrected them, but we didnt publish 3 different ways to go. I am not going to beat around the bush here, and have my aesbestos suit on, (deep breath) Ok, disclaimer, I am not pointing fingers at any one person, And I like the thoughtfull emails on the list so far. But, who is making these directions that we are to go towards Accessibility? Developers and companies who want to help the people with disabilities? Are there any non disabled people that for example write ideas on how to make websites screen reader accessible that have never REALLY used a screen reader? I mean, really used it. Not just tested the site with one. For example, how does one find out which cell in a data table he/she is currently in? That is a simple question if you have really used one for reading a website. My point is that there are a lot of well meaning people here who could benefit by taking some time to actually play with and use the accessibility tools we write our websites to accomidate. Instead of taking the road of well, html spec says so and so, and this looks logical to so lets do it this way, use the AT tools we write for and give input on how accessible things are or are not in websites. Then, go about making them accessible. When we then have a clear and concise direction, the world will join us. UNTIL THEN THE WORLD WILL WAIT. Hope I didnt step on too many toes... I am a horrible dancer LOL I just thought I would give my perspective of an old standards guy in a field similar that is coming into this field and answering the question of why businesses and the "masses" arent beating the door down for accessiblity. At least as I see it. Down off my soapbox, sorry for any bruised toes and feelings. -Steve Ian Anderson said: > >> > Actually, I wonder if User Agents could offer a list of >> links/headings with the capability of setting the focus to a >> selected link/header in > the >> >> Some do. However the typical commercial web page has no headings (and >> historically used headings as a font size control). > > This is true, but not necessarily a problem. Let's look forward, not > back. More and more web designers are getting the idea of proper HTML > structure and I remain optimistic about the future for professional > sites. > > At the risk of going on a tangent, what worries me isn't just the vast > amount of legacy information that's tied up in tag soup out there, but > also the difficulty of helping home users to publish on the web in a > manner that works well from an accessibility standpoint. Some of the > best content on the web is published by individuals without any > background in web accessibility or web design; this was the point of the > web after all. We need easy-to-use publishing tools for the masses (no > disrespect intended to the masses here :) that do decent accessibility > out of the box. > > Has anyone thought of doing the same sort of thing for accessibility > that the Web Standards Project did for web design? Pressure needs to be > brought on Microsoft and other key vendors to pay more than lip service > to web accessibility in their publishing tools for business and home > users as well as web professionals. > > Take care > > Ian Anderson > zStudio
Received on Monday, 29 March 2004 19:53:31 UTC