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RE: Web accessibility: The Text-only Revolution

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From: John Foliot - WATS.ca
Date: Dec 3, 2003 1:48PM


Can't claim to have definitive wisdom, but always willing to share an
opinion <grin>:

Item 1:

> Maybe "revolution" is too strong a word but providing an instant text-mode
> for your entire web site, using a server based solution with "assistive
> annotations" and "assistive previews," is very NEW and worth taking a look
> at.

Well authored and intelligently created web documents already have separated
the "text" from the display. We call it XHTML and CSS, and is the
*recommended* way of doing things (recommended by the W3C - the defacto
standards body for all things "web"). Not sure how NEW and/or revolutionary
it is...


Item 2:

> The LIFT Text Transcoder uses unique "assistive annotations" and
> "assistive previews"

Hmm... Sounds like a proprietary system to me... I personally always become
nervous whenever a proprietary system comes along and has "THE Solution(TM)"
My "spidey sense(*)" also kicks in whenever a "magic bullet" solution is
offered by anybody. Ain't no such thing as a free lunch, and any system is
only as good as the people who use it. In the area of web accessibility,
understanding the issues is far harder than developing solutions to address
them (specific conversation threads on this forum not-withstanding...). So
when a blanket application shows up that "...Solves many accessibility
issues while supporting PDAs..." I become very wary; how can you resolve an
issue if you don't know what it is in the first place?

(* Spidey sense being a cultural reference to the Comic book hero Spiderman,
who referred to his heightened sense of intuition / premonition of impending
"evil" as "Spidey sense"...)


Item 3:

> To get a live demo of your site in text-mode and to see real world
> "assistive annotations" and "assistive previews" go to:

...and then give them your email address and name and a sales person will be
in touch. PULEEEZE....

Jim, all I can say is caveat emptor. Organizations that are mandated to
adhere to accessibility guidelines (under penalty of potential litigation)
and who put all their faith in one tool to achieve this or any other
compliancy goal are, IMHO, playing with fire. A tool, any tool, is only as
good as the person using it, and my personal concern is that organizations
and businesses will purchase this tool, "push the button" and sit back on
their laurels believing they have addressed the accessibility issue. It
appears just too simplistic a solution to truly address the very real needs
of many users (beyond those with the need for text only content). Does this
magic tool address issues for the mobility impaired? The cognitively
impaired? Those with auditory impairments (rarely an issue, but one which
should not be forgotten)? In fairness to the folk at LIFT, they don't claim
that it does it all ("...Solves many accessibility issues..."), but in the
rush to become compliant, how many uneducated / undereducated purchasing
agents out there will miss the finesse of the word "many"?

JF
--
John Foliot <EMAIL REMOVED>
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)





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