Re: sellability of D-link vs. LONGDESC

I believe that the best way to "sell" HTML accessibility solutions is to
include guidelines, examples and "What is this for?"-type contextual
material in the major HTML authoring tools.  This will be especially
effective if the material included is integrated with automated tools that
take care of formatting and leave the author to worry about writing
meaningful and helpful content.  It is not enough that there are web sites
(usually off the beaten track) that include authoring guidelines,
accessibility checks, and text-only reformaters.  To be effective these
tools have to be included with the authoring tools or at the very least
within major site building areas such as Microsoft's.

In addition, extra-cost access solutions such as LONGDESC should not be made
required because any popular browser that ceased to display images without
proper text would probably be overtaken by its competitors that ignored the
change.

Jan Richards
jan.richards@utoronto.ca
(416) 946-3001
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
University of Toronto

Received on Tuesday, 16 September 1997 10:56:16 UTC