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Re: Ajax

for

From: smithj7
Date: Oct 10, 2006 11:50AM

I am very happy to hear of the on-going improvements. Things can only get
better when everyone works together to assure equal access.

At this point, I am still recommending not using AJAX. The target
population, for the most part, of this particular application will be people
working at the local level Florida school systems.

I work for the Florida state agencies that is the sole state agency that
provides services that assist people who are blind or severely visually
impaired get jobs. When we purchase their initial licenses for JAWS or
another speech software we include 3 free updates.

What we have consistently found is that even when other employee software is
updated (which is by the way lagging within state government, especially at
the local level), that people who are using the access technology's software
is NOT updated until they cannot access something. The person ends up
getting with our Mandersfield Technology Center or one of our district
offices when their job is jeoporized because the powers that be and often
the individual herself/himself does not realize that the problem is
technology based!

Access technology is still expensive, unlike some of the other accomodations
for people with disabilities. People and businesses need time to afford the
newest versions of the access technology. Users need to be able to have
time to learn how to use the newer versions of software technology.

Because technology is so rapidily developing, it seems that tech folks are
going to need to remember that users may still not have the means to have
the equal access only because they don't have the right tools, skills, or
time and money to assure that in happening. Does that make sense?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alastair Campbell" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 5:44 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Ajax


>> There are a number of reasons why using an *AJAX only*
>> solutions is a recipe for problems.
>
> Assuming you went with the Hijax method (as Tim mentioned:
> http://domscripting.com/blog/display/41) and provided an obvious option
> to turn off the 'advanced' features, would there be any accessibility
> issues there?
>
> I've tested James Edwards AJAX test cases with recent versions of JAWs
> and Voiceover with good results (a few caveats), so things are
> improving.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> -Alastair
>
> --
> Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience
>
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