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Re: Evacuation Maps and Web Accessibility

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From: michael.brockington
Date: Jan 12, 2005 10:44AM

I have sometimes seen such plans written in plain text, (probably because the
user thought that it was easier than doing a diagram) and they generally
state things like 'move to the central core of the building' or 'move to the
nearest fire escape, these are situated at the end of each wing'.
If these instructions are for users who regularly sit in the same place I
think they can be expected to understand these terms if written carefully.

The example that Jon provided ( http://www.fs.uiuc.edu/ada/0267Plan1.html )
seems like an excellent example of what not to do. That page describes the
icons used very nicely, but gives no indication of where those icons appear
on the image, let alone in relation to the building features. For these
descriptions to be any use as they stand, you need to be able to see the
image, and not be colourblind.
What I think is being asked for is things like: 'The emergency exit from Room
321 is in the opposite corner to the entrance door' and 'Accessible toilets
are at the left hand end of the main corridor, when entering from the main
stairwell'. These statements are more appropriate for occassional users, but
are just off the top of my head, rather than from any official manual.

Mike


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