Hello Peter,

I am puzzled how a plug-in can make all sites accessible to screen readers,
and at the same time domain owners can buy it, presumably to make their
own sites accessible.  How can it be client side and host side at the
same time?  How can it add ALT tag text to diagrams, when only the
author/producer of the diagram knows what text is appropriate?  It would
require more than super-human intelligence - it would require telepathy!

Cheers from Chiswick,

John
--
In message  <[log in to unmask]>
Peter via [log in to unmask], and other lists, writes:

>Hi,
>
>The message below is a reply to a message, that was posted on the vicug-l
>listing. I send this reply to some other lists and the president of ION
>Systems, because I do not agree with what the ION Systems, who made Web
>Eyes, is telling the world.
>
>I tried the Web Eyes plugin on several pages and I do not hope
>accessibility problems will be solved with this kind of software! This kind
>of software is not an alternative for making web sites accessible.  The
>company suggests, that Web Eyes is an alternative cost effective solution
>to make web sites accessible.

[snip]

>At 07:35 11-03-2002 -0500, you [Jill Thomas of ION Systems] wrote:

>>We have released Web Eyes (tm).  It is an IE browser plug in (722K) that
>>can take any web site - whether it
>>is tagged for accessibility usage or not - and reflow it so that it can
>>be read at any font size (4 points - 144 points) as well as by Jaws and
>>Window Eyes!
>>
>>To try it out, go to http://www.ionwebeyes.com. You can use it on any
>>domain for 10 minutes regardless of if the domain has purchased Web Eyes
>>or not.  We sell Web Eyes to the domain owners as an annual license
>>($600 - $5,500 based on the number of pages in a domain) for unlimited
>>downloads and unlimited reading time on all registered domains. If you
>>try to read CNN.com with Jaws - it does an intelligible job. By
>>accessing it via Web Eyes, it is 100% logical and usable.  You can turn
>>graphics and columns on and off. For screen readers, use a single column
>>and a small font size for maximum usability. You need IE 5.5 or higher.
>>When installed, Web Eyes is under the Tools menu.
>>
>>My husband is in DC this week demonstrating it to several government
>>agencies. I think this will ROCK the accessibility community since sites
>>who "haven't had time to add the necessary tags" will now be usable by
>>them as well as normal sighted users. It is a win-win-win!
>>Accessibility community can read the information, web sites designers
>>can still have a formatted site and the corporate entities don't have to
>>pay to have two sites designed and maintained.
>>
>>--
>>Jill Thomas
>>President, ION Systems, Inc.
>>[log in to unmask]
>>636-937-9094     Fax 636-937-1828
>>107 Mississippi Ave., Crystal City, MO 63019
>>                 *****
>>www.ionsystems.com     Your Bridge To Usability
>>www.galaxylibrary.com  Where Electronic And Print Worlds Converge
>>                 *****
>>eMonocle (tm) an XML viewer for simultaneous use by sighted, low vision
>>and, in the near future, blind readers.
>>Web Eyes (tm) a web plug-in facilitating compliance with Section 508 and
>>accessibility to any web page for low-vision users.
>>
>>
>>VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
>>To join or leave the list, send a message to
>>[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
>>"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
>>  VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
>>http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
>

--
Access the word, access the world! -- Try our WordAloud software!!

John Nissen, Cloudworld Ltd., Chiswick, London
Tel:   +44 (0) 845 458 3944 (local rate in the UK)
Fax:   +44 (0) 20 8742 8715
Web:   http://www.cloudworld.co.uk