I have been using computers with access technology for
31 years, now, and think such things as Apple's Voiceover system
is a true sea change since the accessibility is built in from
the start on recent Apple products. What bothered me in reading
the postings responding to the original question is the emphasis
on evangelism to all web developers around the world. That is a
noble aim, but it is like swatting mosquitos. You kill the mosquitos one
by one, but getting rid of their breeding areas has a much
greater effect and doesn't require nearly as much on-going
effort.

	It is my understanding that most web developers use
ready-made tools to build content rather than hand-crafting html
or other markup code so that they are not directly involved in
the minutia of each line of source code.

	It would seem that development packages are the choke
point in which a lot of global difference can be made if users
of those packages are strongly encouraged, if not out right
forced, to do things that are standards-based, a lot of these
show-stopping accessibility issues that are such a royal pain
would never happen in the first place.

	Bob's web site uses onclick directives but the package
he used knows that not everybody uses a mouse so it also adds
code to allow for a keyboard-based selection method.

	Bill's web site has a list of audio files with
javascript-based links but Bill's development tool knows that
this is a problem so it inserts code that a lynx L Y N X user
can handle and still get the files.

	To this very day, we are still having those kinds of problems
on a wide-spread basis even though it isn't rocket science to
fix them.

	I use safari on a Mac when lynx doesn't work and still
run in to compatibility issues when trying to talk to our
Microsoft-oriented web sites. This is the kind of basic stuff
that is frustrating beyond belief and I just don't understand
why it is still such a problem.

	In any web site, one needs to be able to make selections
and then get the server to understand the client's selection and
act upon it. That is absolutely essential but my experience has
been that that is where accessibility issues kill the whole
session.

	We need to help developers with layout suggestions that
make sites easy to navigate for users of screen readers, etc,
but this business of links that don't work and unlabeled buttons
is still my number 1 pet peave. Why is it so?

	The requirement to tag a button or make a link so that
it works in lynx or something similar could be automated at the
development package level. Most developers don't care as long as
it doesn't break for most usersso let's just make the
standards-based way the default way.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Telecommunications Services Group

Jim Tobias writes:
> I commented on the article that we do a good "medical care" job of
> evaluating and remediating individual sites, but we do only a fair "public
> health" job of understanding mass effects, identifying motivational 
> issues,
> improving motivation.  We even disagree as to whether the web is more or
> less accessible than it was, a sure sign of weak intellectual framework 
> and
> strategic vision.  How can you cure AIDS if you don't know how many people
> have it, where, why, and what treatments they will accept or reject?
> 
> 
> ***
> Jim Tobias
> Inclusive Technologies
> +1.908.907.2387 v/sms
> skype jimtobias
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   _____
> 
> From: Gil Cleeton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:18 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Do we need a new game plan to make the Web accessible?
> 
> 
> Yes we need to apply divergent thinking which has been snuffed out of us 
> by
> rote learning in our education.
> Gil
> 
> > Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 17:37:34 -0400
> > From: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Do we need a new game plan to make the Web accessible?
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Last week, Vlad Alexander, editor of Rebuilding The Web, wrote a post
> > called "Do we need a new game plan to make the Web accessible?" His post
> > and the thoughtful comments that follow are recommended reading and
> > contributing to, if you are so inclined.
> > http://rebuildingtheweb.com/en/need-new-plan-to-make-web-accessible
> >
> > Jennison
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jennison Mark Asuncion
> > Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network <www.adaptech.org>
> > LinkedIn at <www.linkedin.com/in/jennison>
> 
> 
>