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From: Jason Taylor
Date: Wed, Jul 26 2006 6:20AM
Subject: Example of LIFT Text Transcoder solving complex accessibility issues
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I thought it would be worth following up with a specific example where
LIFT Text Transcoder can be used to create an accessible view of a not so
accessible and hard to use section of a site. I have used the UGA events
area.

Go to http://transcoder.usablenet.com/tt/http://www.uga.edu and select
"Events at UGA " this is a framed based area of the site. View the
original version at https://db.uga.edu/mastercalendar/

Testing with a range of assistive users has shown that the LIFT Text
Transcoder view is far easier to use than the original view. It can also
be accessed by Mobile users on PDA's as well as assistive expanding the
value of the view.

This more assistive friendly view is achieved by combining the dynamic
nature of LIFT Text and annotations we at UsableNet create for each site
to improve primary areas of the site. This power behind the scenes is what
makes this a unique solution .

To go directly to the assistive friendly view of this calender you can go to:

https://transcoder.usablenet.com/tt/frameset/un_jtt_frameset_redirect/%0AUniversity+of+Georgia+Master+Calendar%0A/https%3A%2F%2Fdb.uga.edu%2Fmastercalendar%2F/top/%2Fmastercalendar%2Ftop.html/calendar/%2Fmastercalendar%2Fcal.html/



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From: Jason Taylor
Date: Wed, Jul 26 2006 11:40AM
Subject: RE: Example of LIFT Text Transcoder solving complex accessibility issues
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Dear Philip

Good suggesions on the additional items to be added. They will be added
and will not need changes to orginal code - this is the power of LIFT Text
Transcoder.
to answer your question:
"What is the use of spending resource hours improving the accessibility
of the current Events page if the underlying page is so broken? "

Because assistive students want access to that events area NOW. That is
what we are here for. The alternative is normally somthing along the lines
of "there are no internal resources available right now, it will take too
long, the code is too old no-one knows how, there is no money to buy new
events area, the person that did that left: many many reasons to delay and
side line accessive support. Our partnership with all size and shape
organizations brings skilled dedicated resources with solutions to complex
issues in a unique way.

Kind Regards
Jason Taylor

to answer your question on
> On July 26, 2006 07:31 EST, Jason Taylor wrote:
>> I thought it would be worth following up with a specific example where
>> LIFT Text Transcoder can be used to create an accessible view of a
>> not so accessible and hard to use section of a site. I have used the
>> UGA events area.
>
>> Testing with a range of assistive users has shown that the LIFT Text
>> Transcoder view is far easier to use than the original view.
>
> OK. Yes, there continue to be ways that the page could be improved, but I
> can tell that the LIFT Text Transcoder view is better without actually
> testing it. Good, quick work.
>
> Having said that, I'm not sure this is a good example of why the LIFT Text
> Transcoder is a good solution. I can see an argument for using the
> Transcoder on an old CMS-driven site where the CMS itself is so outdated
> that it cannot produce an acceptable page from the content in the
> databases -- then you would use the Transcoder until such time as you
> upgraded the system (which would of course be a priority). But the UGA
> events page is not like that. It is not duplicated throughout the UGA
> site,
> but is just one dynamically created page. It has a look-and-feel that is
> entirely unique, so you wouldn't have to worry about matching it to the
> UGA
> look-and-feel guidelines. When you add Transcoder annotations for this
> page, they will apply only to this specific page.
>
> Here is the Events page:
> https://db.uga.edu/mastercalendar/
>
> Wouldn't it be better to get someone to modify the CGI scripts and page
> templates directly?
>
>>From what I can tell, the CGI scripts that are used to put this page
> together need to be fixed anyways: when I perform a search for events
> (using
> any of the methods provided), I get a strange list of events that includes
> all kinds of events outside the date range and appears to have no order.
> Also, the drop down list should be changed so that it doesn't start with
> 2003. And how about adding a link from the Events page back to the main U
> of Georgia home page (there isn't one!)? What is the use of spending
> resource hours improving the accessibility of the current Events page if
> the
> underlying page is so broken? You can't make an accessible page out of
> this
> without doing some work on the original code.
>
> Phil.
>
>
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