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Re: reading list mail

for

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Aug 4, 2011 7:03AM

To me, this sounds like the kind of thing that would be great for the mail client to handle. There definitely appear to be strong user preferences and needs for providing the information in alternate ways.

My own preference depends on circumstances. Usually I prefer the message appear at the top of the e-mail, since I am already aware of the past conversation or have all the past e-mails if I really want to go back and look at a history of the conversation. Sometimes, with e-mails that involve a lot of complex questions or where someone is responding to multiple points, I like it when the responses are interleaved with quotes. Though I will admit that (while my screen reader will read the punctuation to me) it gets difficult to read such e-mails when there are multiple nested quotes. Bottom posting works great for me when I don't have all previous e-mails and will need context to understand the response--though I rarely get e-mails this way so I have a tendency to fail to see the response at the end. But it still has its uses.
This conversation is a great example of how usability and accessibility intermingle and how user preference relates to accessibility. It doesn't necessarily sound like any of the options are absolutely inaccessible. However, some solutions are more or less efficient or usable depending on the user--or the situation. Also, there has been some comments about screen reader punctuation reading settings. That is a user preference that can be related to the user's comfort as well as increased efficiency in reading. It's potentially an accessibility/usability issue that is also a user preference issue.

Thanks!
Tim