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Re: BrailleNote and web accessibility

for

From: David Andrews
Date: Mar 5, 2009 5:45PM

The Braille Note is, or was based on Windows CE so it doesn't handle
some newer technologies. Using the Braille Note to hold back WEB 2.0
is a little bit like the proverbial Dutch boy putting his finger in
the hole in the dike though.

All blind people put together couldn't stop WEB 2.0, and a small
segment of a small population certainly can't.

I also think the days of the dedicated, simple note taker, like the
Braille Note, are numbered. They are being replaced by laptops, Net
Books, and more powerful phones.

Dave

At 12:56 PM 3/4/2009, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I got a question about BrailleNote, a notetaker device from Humanware. From
>the complaint I received, many of these users cannot access websites that
>contain table layout and other web technology for some reason. Do we need to
>slow down and wait for the BrailleNote technology to catch up before going
>on with the Web 2.0 technology? Or should we go move on to newer web
>technology? This has been on my mind for quite sometimes and trying to
>figure the best direction to take.
>
>With Warm Regards,
>Randall "Randy" Pope
>American Association of the Deaf-Blind
>Website: http://www.aadb.org
>
>301 495-4402 VP/TTY
>301 495-4403 Voice
>301 495-4404 Fax
>AIM: RandyAADB
>
>Want to keep up with the latest news in the Deaf-Blind Community? Consider
>subscribing to the monthly newsletter, "AADB Today" at http://aadb.org. It's
>free and AADB membership is not required.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
>Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 10:30 AM
>To: WebAIM Discussion List
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] When will developers be able to rely on ARIA?
>
>On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Despain, Dallas wrote:
> > But when will we be able to release such technology with confidence that
>users will reap the benefits?
>
>Now! You lose nothing by implementing it now. If site visitors are
>using an older screen reader or browser that does not utilize ARIA,
>they don't get the enhanced accessibility. While you should do what
>you can to make it accessible without ARIA, if you implement ARIA you
>can only make things better for those that have compatible
>technologies.
>
>Based on our screen reader survey results, it appears that most screen
>reader users have relatively up-to-date browsers and screen readers.
>I'd say the vast majority of them have ARIA compatible user agents
>now. An IE8 release with proper ARIA support will only increase
>adoption.
>
>Jared Smith
>WebAIM
>