WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Making A Better CAPTCHA For the Visually Impaired And Making Captions More Available To The Hearing Impaired

for

From: Dave Merrill
Date: Apr 18, 2013 7:48PM

Jumping in here, not as an accessibility expert (which I'm not), but as a
developer and participant in online conversations; forgive me if I'm being
naive...

The simple fact is that forums or blog comments that get overrun with spam
aren't places anyone wants to go, regardless of any disabilities they may
or may not have. Something needs to be done about that.

Far as I can see, the alternatives are:
- Making everyone create an account and log in, which nobody likes for
casual comments, and which carries its own privacy and personal security
risks
- Moderating every comment, impractical for high-volume or thinly staffed
sites
- Some way of anonymously "proving" you're not a spambot, i.e., CAPTCHAs,
which are imperfect in both accessibility and security, but people like
Samir are working to improve them

Distinguishing people from programs designed to imitate them is a hard
problem. Doing it a way that's natural in spite of possible impairment to
every sense, motor ability and cognitive function seems very very hard. The
only approach I can think of would be to offer multiple tests, and let you
choose based on what you're comfortable with. Multiple serious impairments
would be difficult to manage, as in other areas of life.

What other suggestions are being proposed? Not the deserted wasteland that
grows where spam isn't controlled at all, I hope.

Dave Merrill