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Re: need some help re problem sites

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Apr 29, 2013 10:15AM

If you want a sighted web developer/owner to understand your needs, then
don't send them to www.w3.org, WAI, or WCAG.
The websites are overwhelming.

When I teach accessibility to developers, authors, and others who create the
material you want to access, my students' first reaction to any of these
websites is not positive. In fact, I can't reproduce their comments here.
Within a few minutes of scanning the websites, they want to bolt from the
classroom and never return to learn about accessibility.

The problem is that the overviews and technical sections aren't written and
visually designed well enough for the average visitor. They are dense,
text-heavy, unattractive, and difficult to skim. In other words, they do not
communicate the message well.

We need a reference website that's written to guide and encourage developers
to fix the most critical barriers first, and then build in the other items.
W3C/WAI/WCAG websites don't meet that need: they instead throw everything at
the reader, expecting them to dissect an enormous amount of detail in a
short period of time, to run a marathon when they're not even taking baby
steps yet.

I don't know of any web developer out there with spare time to spend reading
these websites. There is no "short version" of the website or a top-10-list
of things to do to make a website more accessible.

No wonder they don't make their websites accessible.

—Bevi Chagnon
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
www.PubCom.com — Trainers, Consultants, Designers, Developers.
Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and U.S. Federal Section 508
Accessibility.
New schedule for classes and workshops coming in 2013.

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Nancy Johnson
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 7:52 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] need some help re problem sites

Here is a link to w3c's guidelines on letting site owners know with
sample email... http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/responding/

Often site owners need education... smaller site owners often user
Site-building tools and don't know much about html or there is any problems,
even with larger sites their development staff doesn't know about
accessbility

Nancy

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 6:56 AM, Monique Brunel < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:
> Le 29/04/2013 06:54, Hoger, Jodie a écrit :
>> Hi List, I work in post-secondary education supporting students who are
blind or vision impaired and am blind myself. I am constantly faced with
needing to use external (and sometimes internal) sites that are very poorly
designed re access. For example, publishers of textbooks etc. I am not a
techy so can't provide that type of assistance or advice but what I am
seeking is a good basic document or website that I can pass on to the devs
of these sites to assist them in at least doing some tweaking to make their
sites more user friendly to all. Is there such a beast? I want to be able to
email them and include the link or document to get them started.
>> I would love some help here if you know of anything because it drives me
nuts and seriously slows down my efficiency in my job crawling through these
messes with a screen reader.
>> Thanks,
>> Jodie
>>
>> Jodie Hoger
>
> Hi,
> You can see the Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/
>
> There is a page for contact inaccessible websites
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible
>
> Best regards,
> Monique
>
> --
> Monique Brunel
> Accessibilité et qualité des sites Web - Mozilla Rep Conférences -
> Ateliers - Conseil - Tél. +32(0)473 25 81 94
> | http://blog.webatou.info | http://aliaz.com/monique-brunel |
> | www.opquast.com | www.openweb.eu.org | www.mozilla-belgium.org |
> > > list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
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