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Re: Text-Only Version of sites

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Oct 28, 2019 10:25AM

On 28/10/2019 14:43, Swift, Daniel P. wrote:
> Patrick:
>
> That's a valid point that I've been struggling with ... we've viewed it as a "safety net" believing that if there were any major issues, the third party would provide alternative access to our data. Our site is very accessible with minor issues that keep appearing. With accessibility lawsuits on the rise after the last few years, one can't help but be paranoid.

The main issue is generally that automagic "text-only version" systems
take the "regular" site and just munge/rewrite its code a bit to make it
text-only. Meaning that any major accessibility problems from the
"regular" site won't be fixed by an automated text-only version either
(stupid example: if the main site lacks alternative text for content
images, a text-only system won't magically fix those either; less stupid
example: if the site uses some highly dynamic JS based widget to show
interactive grids of content, similar to Excel, an automated text-only
system won't magically turn this into a non-JS version that works well
as pure text-only version).

Now, looking at textise.org, it seems to/claims to do more than just
text-only on-the-fly conversion. It sounds suspiciously like they try to
monkey-patch your site via JS to paper over accessibility issues (and
most likely provide some sort of in-page "toolbar" widget for users to
then do things like change text size etc). The former is really just
trying to put lipstick on a pig...if there are accessibility issues,
they should be fixed at source. The latter is marginally useful to some
users, but arguably a lot of it falls within the realm of things that
users should sort out for themselves (with appropriate knowledge of
their own browser's options, or with their own assistive tech), as
they'll need it not just on your site but all sites.

And as ever, worth noting that any product that promises "compliance"
with WCAG out of the box with no changes needed on your own site's end
is generally..."overpromising" (to be diplomatic). It's snake oil...

Long story short: I'd suggest investing in auditing your site as it is
now, and fixing any identified issues / investing time in training, or
forcing 3rd party suppliers to provide accessible systems/content.
That's the more sustainable solution, rather than this sort of sticky
plaster "solution".

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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