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Re: Web accessibility and usability

for

From: Chris Heilmann
Date: Oct 11, 2004 4:30AM


> The most obvious example that I can think of was a recent discussion about
> providing documents in multiple formats. The best way of doing this in a
> visual browser is to do:
>
> Extremely_long_document_title: (Word Format) (PDF Format)
> Official_Reports_Always_Have_long_names: (Word Format) (PDF Format)
>
> But this conflicts with accessibility since all of the links have the same
> name. I don't know which solutions people use, but (by definition) any
> accessible solution will be less usable.

What about using an icon with an appropriate ALT attribute stating "PDF
format of ..." and "Word format of".
It is a repetition, but not visually. Or the document name as a label and
a select box offering the different formats followed by a download button
(this also allows for easy backend tracking).

Accessibility only interferes with usability when the usability
enhancements commit the cardinal sin: Assuming the users environment.

--
Chris Heilmann
http://icant.co.uk/ | http://www.onlinetools.org/