atw: Re: MS Publisher

Hmm, it seems my approach to life is becoming more and more at odds with
that of conventional TWs - which I am only just becoming aware of myself. 

 

I am writing materials for amateurs, not professionals.  I am teaching
amateurs how to get something worthwhile out of the easiest products I can
find.  I am not teaching them how to use a bit of software.  I am teaching
them how to achieve a specified  end result using a bit of software.  

 

During the process of doing this my own attitude to computers seems to have
changed dramatically.

 

Raw amateurs can produce professional looking products simply, easily and
quickly because the techos are getting better and better at producing high
quality, simple, user friendly products.

 

So it is no longer my business to check CSS code.  That is the business of
the products I use.  Have the techos designed the products well enough to
give me a usable product at the end of the day with a minimum of fuss?  

 

It is my business is to check the end product and see if it works for my
defined purpose and audience.  If it doesn't work, I ask the producer of the
enabling product what I can do about it.  So one question I will ask the
produce of WebCompiler relates to scalability in relation to the sight
impaired who just need magnification.  

 

However, it is my commercial decision that I am not producing a product
suitable for the functionally blind who use voice recognition and screen
readers, just as I am not producing materials in Spanish or for primary
school children.  They are specialist jobs for which I do not have the
skills. We make these audience decisions all the time.  

 

But interesting questions to contemplate.

 

Christine

 

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hedley Finger
Sent: Wednesday, 21 January 2009 6:12 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: MS Publisher

 


Christine:




What else? 


Can your pages be read by a screen reader?  Pages styled with CSS files can
have the displayed page in one order or layout but a different order for the
screen reader software.  My niece is functionally blind and you should hear
the shocking language from such a sweet young girl when her screen reader
encounters a page that has been formatted with tables.  It is extremely
important that the @alt attribute always contains suitable descriptive text,
for example, "Image" is not a suitable alt text for 'Logo of Yarra Valley
Water'.

There are plenty of articles at A List Apart about applying CSS files to
pages so that they will present correctly on screen, in print (in a layout
that just preserves the content and omits the menu header, side-columns and
all the other navigational bumf), and as text suitable for a screen reader.

Regards,
Hedley





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Hedley Finger
 
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