RE: Who needs what Re: A Call to Reorganize WCAG 2.0

Mark Gristock said:

> But if WCAG is being looked for by governments as a way of 
> measuring accessibility, it is the user experience they must 
> measure - not the level of access.

Are you seriously suggesting that governments need to create guidelines
for determining and measuring usability? And that the W3C should develop
the guidelines upon which those governments should base their
requirements?

In most industries, there are governing bodies that create standards.
But those bodies don't get involved in telling manufacturers what the
product must look like. That's marketing. Standards exist to make things
safe and to protect the consumer from harm. They do not protect the
consumer from making bad decisions.

To even suggest that governments have any business determining usability
standards is preposterous.

> If a simple task can only 
> be completed with great difficulty using an AT, then while 
> this is strictly 'accessible' it remains discriminatory.

Again, accessibility and usability are not the same thing.

----------
Randal Rust
Covansys Corp.
Columbus, OH

Received on Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:17:34 UTC