[access-uk] Re: Really good, accessible web sites.

  • From: "Tink Watson" <tink@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 13:51:12 +0100

George,

Agreed. Web design is an industry that has largely grown out of hobbiests and people who are self taught. To a large extent it's still this way, although there are a growing number of us banging on about the fact that there is a better way.


We user tested a site recently that had been designed with a pale green background and lime green text. In an odd reversal of role, the only people who could bear to use the site were the ones who couldn't see it.

Tink.
----- Original Message ----- From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 1:25 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Really good, accessible web sites.


Hi Tink,

I agree that the issue of accessible web sites has indeed
become very "VI 'centric", as you so eloquently put it.

However, I'd like put a slightly different view forward.

I as good as have 20/20 vision, and I think it's reasonable
to say that I do have a modest amount of computer savvy.  I
also do a lot of web browsing for one purpose or another -
often to try and help some of you guys out.

However, I am finding an increasing numbers of situations
where I am hitting shocking web design - full stop.  So much
so indeed that I am actually finding myself just leaving the
page altogether.  I just cannot find my way round it.

I won't bore you with details at this point, but simply say
that if I can't see what I'm looking for on a web page, what
chance have any of you guys got?

George.

-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tink Watson
Sent: 01 September 2005 12:22
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Really good, accessible web
sites. 

James,

Exactly so. Due to the huge effort put in by the RNIB,

and the fact that by and large people with visual
impairments
encounter the greatest number of problems in surfing the
Net, 
the idea of web accessibility has become very VI 'centric.

I think that accessibility, whether everyone agrees on 

it's subjectivity, objectivity or not, is something that
needs to be approached from different angles.

Sites need to be designed well, browsers need to read
the 
code properly, screen readers need to deal with both
correctly and people need to make the best of their skills


and talents.

Accessibility is trollied around like the be all and
end 
all, and for those people who can't use a web site, for
whatever reason, then it is. But the best solution is to
work
towards the same targets, using the same guidelines to
lead
the way and with a little luck we'll all meet in the
middle. 

    The other thing about good coding, is that it is
beneficial in terms of download speed, hosting storage
space,
search engine optimisation, future rebranding and general 

ease of use for everyone. So accessibility isn't the only
reason for getting stuck in with good code either.

Tink.

----- Original Message -----
From: "James O'Dell" <jamesodell@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 11:43 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Really good, accessible web
sites. 


> Hi Tink
>
> Although I don't have much direct experience of web
design, 
I'm a bit
> sceptical of some of what I would interpret as the great
panick over 
> accessibility by the great and good of the blindness
industry, and the
> over-emphasis on training and on products which claim to
"replace" 
> Windows.
> However, I guess we have to remember that website
accessibility is not
> just
> a blindness issue.  As blind people we are lucky that a
lot 
of the issues
> we
> face on websites can be remedied, or at least addressed,
by 
all sorts of
> sophisticated software.  People who have no access to,
or 
do not need,
> such
> a heavily customised interface to the web have just as
much 
of a right to
> access websites, and I guess this is particularlywhere
good 
coding is
> important.
>
> James

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