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Re: Intro and question

for

From: Michael Goddard
Date: Jun 23, 2004 11:20AM

One a side note (from a developer's perspective) if you have two separate
sites, it is just going to take you twice the amount of time to maintain and
twice the amount of chance of error (updated page on main site but not the
secondary site etc.)

I honestly don't see why you would have a problem in developing a visually
pleasing site that is also steadfast accessible especially if you use the
right tools and plan ahead. With the majority of the browsers support for
and rendering of XHTML/CSS being stronger, you will be able to keep the
presentation separate from content pretty well which in turn allows you to
manipulate the visual side via CSS and create semantically correct content
which should transport well within both visual browsers and text based
browsers and readers.

HTH with giving you some other viewpoints on what you will face when and if
you choose two separate sites. And apologies for going a bit off topic on
your question.

Michael Goddard
Internet Developer/Programmer, CIW
TDH Marketing & Communications, Inc.
8153 Garnet Drive
Dayton, OH. 45458
phone: 937.438.3434
fax: 937.438.3453
email: <EMAIL REMOVED>
web: http://www.tdh-marketing.com


-----Original Message-----
From: honorsgurl [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 12:59 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Intro and question



Hello,

I've been lurking on this list for a little while and have learned a lot
from reading your posts. Thanks!

I've done a little web design in the past, but now I'm responsible for
developing the site for our program at the university, and I'm very
committed to making the site fully accessible. I have much still to learn
on this topic.

In considering accessibility, my first thought was to create one
graphics-intense site (the main site) and one low-graphics site, linking to
the accessible site from the main site.

However, in reading some things on the web about this idea, I discovered
that some people consider this approach demeaning to those who will use the
accessible site--sort of as if one population of web users is restricted to
using a _back door_ to enter the site. Naturally, I do not want to offend
or demean anyone who uses our site.

My ultimate goal is to create a single website that satisfies both the
desire of a visually-oriented population to access a cutting edge website
and the desire of those who are vision impaired or have other accessibility
issues to be able to access the site's content. But that will take me quite
awhile to accomplish (if ever!), and I must get this website built as soon
as possible, as the current site is a disaster from many standpoints, not
the least of which is utter inaccessibility.

Can anyone give me some insight as to the feelings of the disabled web
community about separate, accessible sites? Does this population really
feel demeaned when using these sites? Would you advise that I avoid the
two-site approach?

Thank you in advance for any input!

Beth Hanes
Office Manager
University Honors Program
MSC06 3890
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
(505) 277-4213
http://www.unm.edu/~honors

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