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Re: development time and accessibility

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From: Karl Groves
Date: Mar 1, 2007 7:20AM

Jennison -

To be frank, I would hold any such statistic to be suspect. As we learn in
Logic 101 - "Generalized Statements Are Particularly False". It all depends
exactly what is included in the project. For example, if the site contains a
lot of multimedia content, then doing captioning and/ or transcripting of
audio and video files will certainly add considerably to the time it takes
to create that content.

In terms of development time, I think it comes down to two things: 1) Is
accessible production part of the company's internal development process? If
accessible production techniques are embedded into the development process
from the beginning, then any increase in development time is negligible. A
skilled developer should be able to create accessible interfaces as fast as
doing it the "inaccessible" way. 2) Is this *new* development? Naturally,
going in to make an existing product accessible after it has already been
fielded will add to development time because it may mean making the item
twice.

Even in the case of modifying existing code, I'd be reluctant to say what
sort of increase in time it would involve, because it depends on the
complexity of the interface. Again a skilled developer, knowledgeable in
accessibility, can make modifications in bulk rather quickly.

Karl L. Groves
User-Centered Design, Inc.
Office: 703-729-0998
Mobile: 443-889-8763
E-Mail: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Web: http://www.user-centereddesign.com

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