Sometimes, it is hard to put in to words the nature of
the problems which something like javascript misuse causes.  The
people who use a given technology to produce a web site don't
even think about locking out whole groups of potential users, but
the technology they use is flawed like bad DNA and it taints
everything it touches.

        Let me name some names and give some specifics because
these specifics perfectly describe the situation.

        Our department is taking some course material through
Mindleaders.com.  Mindleaders has made an effort to make their
site accessible to screen readers and they have gone to a lot of
trouble to do this from what I can tell.  Their representatives
are nice people and I have no indication that they want anything
less than to have their material work for as large a group of
people as possible.

        Now, let's get down in the dirt and see what really
happened.

        Just for fun, I tried the Mindleaders site with lynx.  I
couldn't even log in although as with many cases of javascript
misuse, one kind of got the feeling that things might be working
until nothing at all came up after entering the password.

        I dumped the source and sure enough, it was death by
javascript as I like to call it.  The only thing left was the
playing of Taps.

        I wrote to a contact we had and it turns out that screen
reader access means Microsoft Windows, JAWS and Internet explorer
right down to the specific version numbers.

        The technical contact told me that all the text material
was written in native HTML which should work with lynx.  I think
he was right because I had somebody email me one of the pages and
the HTML in it worked perfectly under lynx.

        What doesn't work is the navigation.  Javascript-based
navigation is incomprehensible to lynx and other no-script
browsers.  I am sure there are many other problems with forms and
other kinds of interactive access, but the broken links are the
most pervasive problem.  The text is of no use if one can't
select it.

        My experience with the Mindleaders site was dismally
typical.  I told them the problem and they appear to have simply
decided there is no problem.
It's kind of like declaring that a burned out lightbulb is not
broken, but displaying an alternative form of functionality.

        That is the way things work these days.  The vendors are
fat and happy so why is anybody complaining?

        It sounds like whining, but it is meant more as
encouragement to do things in a technically sound manner.  The
Mindleaders site seems to be run by folks who want very much for
it to work with screen readers as well as for the rest of the
public, but that little detail of the javascript-based navigation
ruined the whole effort unless one is using the chosen package
and the Moon is right.  I am reminded of the following little
ditty which sums up why computer access has gone so totally wrong
for any user of alternative technology.


        For want of a nail, a shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the ware was lost.
For want of a war, the kingdom was lost.

        If you can read English, you know that this poem simply
describes how big calamities result from seemingly little
deficiencies.

        A lot of folks have the mind set that complexity is the
only way to solve these problems, but what we should be doing is
cataloging what simple things work and stringing them together
in to more complex solutions.  That is why UNIX has been around
for over 30 years and is still going strong.

        Let's stop kidding ourselves.  The present system is bad
for everybody except those who are selling screen readers or
upgrades to Windows.

        In my job and leisure activities, UNIX works wonderfully
well for so many activities that web access is the one sour note.
If I spent the big Dollars and went the Windows route, I think
the picture would reverse.  Web use would improve, but many other
things would get more difficult.  There should be enough choices
for all of us to configure our work stations to fit us, not
the other way around.  We are the masters of technology or at
least that's how it was the last time I checked.

        Am I willing to do something about this besides gripe?
You bet!  I am still trying to figure out the best way to repair
this problem because it is not an easy one at all to solve, but
if I figure anything out, I will be more than happy to share the
results in the best open-source tradition.  The knowledge that I
could do something to sleigh this dragon or at least make him
bleed would be payment enough plus be a lot less paperwork
regarding the IRs.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group