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Thread: Olympics 2002 site, accessibility issues, regulations?
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns
Date: Tue, Jan 22 2002 3:53PM
Subject: Olympics 2002 site, accessibility issues, regulations?
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Hi, everyone,
I recently uncovered some big time accessibility problems at the new
Olympics 2002 Salt Lake site <http://www.saltlake2002.com/>; I wrote about
it here:
Accessibility Lockout for Olympics 2002 Site -- Again?!
<http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8746539>;
and a follow-up:
Olympics 2002 Site, Continued
<http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8830508>;
Andy King, WebReference.com, saw what I wrote and wrote even more about it
here:
<http://www.webreference.com/new/020117.html>;
and wrote a follow-up today, too, in the WebReference newsletter (it's not
online yet, though, as of my post). I've been in contact with Andy about
this, too, and I know he feels just as strongly as I do about how nuts this
is, as you can read for yourself.
What I'm also curious about is what kind of regulations the Olympics site
may or may not have in terms of creating an accessible site. I would have
thought they'd be required to follow the WAI guidelines.... especially in
light of their lawsuit from the Sydney2000 site. They did include alt tags
with descriptions this time, though, which is what they were sued for NOT
doing with the Sydney2000 site; however, they fall short in several other
critical areas that results in visitors being completely blocked from the
site. My articles above go into the details about this.
Does anyone know if they are supposed to or required to follow any
guidelines? I guess they wouldn't fall under any specific government's
guidelines, such as the U.S. 508 guidelines or other specific country
guidelines since they're not a government site. I've looked around the Web
but haven't seen any specific official regulatory policy for the Olympics
sites regarding accessibility.
So what can be done about this besides spout off and try to create a bunch
of publicity? It's ludicrous that such a major worldwide site like this
isn't following accessibility guidelines.
Warmly,
Shirley
--
Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
SKDesigns mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Website Design, Development http://www.skdesigns.com/
Pianist, Composer http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
Brainstorms and Raves http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/
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From: Carol Foster
Date: Wed, Jan 23 2002 7:59AM
Subject: Re: Olympics 2002 site, accessibility issues, regulations?
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Hi Shirley and others,
I would guess that they come under the Americans with Disibilities Act (ADA) in
the U.S. at least. And my best guess at the "they" is MSN and MSNBC, who are
listed as the "Official Online Content Providers" (top right of the home
page). The ADA does not provide a specific definition of what Web
accessibility means, though, as you may know.
Carol
"Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns" wrote:
> Hi, everyone,
>
> I recently uncovered some big time accessibility problems at the new
> Olympics 2002 Salt Lake site <http://www.saltlake2002.com/>; I wrote about
> it here:
>
> Accessibility Lockout for Olympics 2002 Site -- Again?!
> <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8746539>;
>
> and a follow-up:
>
> Olympics 2002 Site, Continued
> <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8830508>;
>
> Andy King, WebReference.com, saw what I wrote and wrote even more about it
> here:
> <http://www.webreference.com/new/020117.html>;
>
> and wrote a follow-up today, too, in the WebReference newsletter (it's not
> online yet, though, as of my post). I've been in contact with Andy about
> this, too, and I know he feels just as strongly as I do about how nuts this
> is, as you can read for yourself.
>
> What I'm also curious about is what kind of regulations the Olympics site
> may or may not have in terms of creating an accessible site. I would have
> thought they'd be required to follow the WAI guidelines.... especially in
> light of their lawsuit from the Sydney2000 site. They did include alt tags
> with descriptions this time, though, which is what they were sued for NOT
> doing with the Sydney2000 site; however, they fall short in several other
> critical areas that results in visitors being completely blocked from the
> site. My articles above go into the details about this.
>
> Does anyone know if they are supposed to or required to follow any
> guidelines? I guess they wouldn't fall under any specific government's
> guidelines, such as the U.S. 508 guidelines or other specific country
> guidelines since they're not a government site. I've looked around the Web
> but haven't seen any specific official regulatory policy for the Olympics
> sites regarding accessibility.
>
> So what can be done about this besides spout off and try to create a bunch
> of publicity? It's ludicrous that such a major worldwide site like this
> isn't following accessibility guidelines.
>
> Warmly,
> Shirley
>
> --
> Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
> SKDesigns mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Website Design, Development http://www.skdesigns.com/
> Pianist, Composer http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
> Brainstorms and Raves http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/
>
> ---
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
--
Carol Foster, Web Developer
Internet Publishing Group, Information Technology Services
University of Massachusetts, President's Office
(413) 587-2130
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.umass-its.net/ipg
--
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From: Sharon Daniels
Date: Wed, Jan 23 2002 10:00AM
Subject: I need clarification for State Government!!
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I know that as a state government we are mandated that all our programs and
services have to be ADA compliant and that alternative methods must be
offered in a timely fashion.
My question is:
If you offer an internet application to the public that is not totally
accessible without the user being required to have javascript enabled, etc.,
then you must offer an alternative method (They want to use javascript for
functionality). Does that alternative method have to be available during
the same times as the internet application is available? What if your
internet application is available 24/7 but the alternative method is
available by visiting the office during 8:00am - 4:30pm. Is that
acceptible? I feel that it is not, but I am looking for something
documented that says it has to be available during the same times.
Does anyone know where I could find documentation that specific? I have
been searching through lots of info on the web and I even called DOJ help
line, but they can't tell you specifically a yes or no. They say it's for
informational purposes only. She did suggest a text only site. But I don't
want our vendor to create 2 sites or to have to maintain 2, I just want one
that is totally accessible, so I am pushing for them to do everything
server-side and only html is sent to the browser. They counter with the
fact that other states are using javascript in their apps, but the other
states have phone service 24/7 and we won't be offering that. I would just
love to be able to show them and my boss in writing and just be done with
it.
Thanks for any help...
Sharon
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From: Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns
Date: Wed, Jan 23 2002 3:02PM
Subject: Re: Olympics 2002 site, accessibility issues, regulations?
← Previous message | No next message
Hi, Carol,
At 06:59 AM 01/23/2002, Carol Foster typed:
>Hi Shirley and others,
>
>I would guess that they come under the Americans with Disibilities Act
>(ADA) in
>the U.S. at least. And my best guess at the "they" is MSN and MSNBC, who are
>listed as the "Official Online Content Providers" (top right of the home
>page).
Makes me wish I had some law training here. I have no idea how the
jurisdiction works on such matters, especially for a site like this with so
many countries represented (and whether that part even matters, too). So I
don't know if it's determined by the jurisdiction of the content providers,
the site designers/developers, the official Olympics (or maybe all of them,
some of them).
At any rate, it makes me cringe more than just a little bit that a site
like this would have so little accessibility points addressed at all. Of
course, I have no idea if it's because they aren't educated about such
things or what.... I'd prefer to hope for that rather than that they know
and don't care, that's for sure.
> The ADA does not provide a specific definition of what Web
>accessibility means, though, as you may know.
I figured that from what I'd read, so thanks for that clarification, too.
Thanks for the response, Carol!
Warmly,
Shirley
--
Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
SKDesigns mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Website Design, Development http://www.skdesigns.com/
Pianist, Composer http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
Brainstorms and Raves http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/
>Carol
>
>"Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns" wrote:
>
> > Hi, everyone,
> >
> > I recently uncovered some big time accessibility problems at the new
> > Olympics 2002 Salt Lake site <http://www.saltlake2002.com/>; I wrote about
> > it here:
> >
> > Accessibility Lockout for Olympics 2002 Site -- Again?!
> > <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8746539>;
> >
> > and a follow-up:
> >
> > Olympics 2002 Site, Continued
> > <http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/2002_01_13_archive.shtml#8830508>;
> >
> > Andy King, WebReference.com, saw what I wrote and wrote even more about it
> > here:
> > <http://www.webreference.com/new/020117.html>;
> >
> > and wrote a follow-up today, too, in the WebReference newsletter (it's not
> > online yet, though, as of my post). I've been in contact with Andy about
> > this, too, and I know he feels just as strongly as I do about how nuts this
> > is, as you can read for yourself.
> >
> > What I'm also curious about is what kind of regulations the Olympics site
> > may or may not have in terms of creating an accessible site. I would have
> > thought they'd be required to follow the WAI guidelines.... especially in
> > light of their lawsuit from the Sydney2000 site. They did include alt tags
> > with descriptions this time, though, which is what they were sued for NOT
> > doing with the Sydney2000 site; however, they fall short in several other
> > critical areas that results in visitors being completely blocked from the
> > site. My articles above go into the details about this.
> >
> > Does anyone know if they are supposed to or required to follow any
> > guidelines? I guess they wouldn't fall under any specific government's
> > guidelines, such as the U.S. 508 guidelines or other specific country
> > guidelines since they're not a government site. I've looked around the Web
> > but haven't seen any specific official regulatory policy for the Olympics
> > sites regarding accessibility.
> >
> > So what can be done about this besides spout off and try to create a bunch
> > of publicity? It's ludicrous that such a major worldwide site like this
> > isn't following accessibility guidelines.
> >
> > Warmly,
> > Shirley
> >
> > --
> > Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
> > SKDesigns mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> > Website Design, Development http://www.skdesigns.com/
> > Pianist, Composer http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
> > Brainstorms and Raves http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/
> >
> > ---
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
> > visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>--
>Carol Foster, Web Developer
>Internet Publishing Group, Information Technology Services
>University of Massachusetts, President's Office
>(413) 587-2130
>mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>http://www.umass-its.net/ipg
>--
---
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/