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Re: need some help re problem sites

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Apr 29, 2013 10:15AM

If you want a sighted web developer/owner to understand your needs, then
don't send them to www.w3.org, WAI, or WCAG.
The websites are overwhelming.

When I teach accessibility to developers, authors, and others who create the
material you want to access, my students' first reaction to any of these
websites is not positive. In fact, I can't reproduce their comments here.
Within a few minutes of scanning the websites, they want to bolt from the
classroom and never return to learn about accessibility.

The problem is that the overviews and technical sections aren't written and
visually designed well enough for the average visitor. They are dense,
text-heavy, unattractive, and difficult to skim. In other words, they do not
communicate the message well.

We need a reference website that's written to guide and encourage developers
to fix the most critical barriers first, and then build in the other items.
W3C/WAI/WCAG websites don't meet that need: they instead throw everything at
the reader, expecting them to dissect an enormous amount of detail in a
short period of time, to run a marathon when they're not even taking baby
steps yet.

I don't know of any web developer out there with spare time to spend reading
these websites. There is no "short version" of the website or a top-10-list
of things to do to make a website more accessible.

No wonder they don't make their websites accessible.

—Bevi Chagnon
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www.PubCom.com — Trainers, Consultants, Designers, Developers.
Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and U.S. Federal Section 508
Accessibility.
New schedule for classes and workshops coming in 2013.