I haven't checked these results personally, not that I'd be able to
intelligently verify the results since I am limited to what browsers I am
using, but here is something which may be of interest to those on this
list.

Steve
From: Bruce Maguire [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]

On 3 Jun 2000 03:38:47 -0000, "RNIB Digital Access Campaign
Supporters" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

RNIB Digital Access Campaign Supporters -
http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital

Hello
You are receiving this message as a member of RNIB's Campaign for
Better
Web Design mailing list.  There are 373 people on this list.

Tomorrow, RNIB is issuing the following press release regarding
the
inaccessibility of some of the major search engines.  Please
share this
information wherever you feel it will have an impact.

Best wishes
Julie Howell, Campaigns Officer (Accessible Internet)
RNIB
[log in to unmask]

Blind people are left in the dark by badly designed internet
search engines

Three of the world's most popular Internet search engines are
difficult,
or in some cases impossible to use if you are blind or partially
sighted
and use 'adaptive technology', according to research supported by
the
Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).

Professor Charles Oppenheim and Karen Selby of Loughborough
University
conducted the research with the help of a group of blind and
partially
sighted students from RNIB's Loughborough College. The students
tried to
search the Web using Altavista (http://www.altavista.co.uk),
Yahoo
(http://www.yahoo.co.uk), and Infoseek
(http://www.infoseek.co.uk), using
adaptive technology (speech synthesis, Braille output or large
fonts on
the screen) which is added to a standard PC.

Obtrusive advertising and excessive navigation made locating
Altavista's
list of search results difficult for some of the students, who
found
themselves forced to listen to 'frustrating and
irrelevant'information
before reaching the information they were searching for.

Some of the images on Infoseek's results page were not captioned,
leaving
the students feeling disorientated whilst 'poor contrast' and
'illegible icons' prevented some students from using Yahoo!
quickly
and easily, and one student was forced to abandon his search
altogether.

"The students who took part in this research were disappointed
and
frustrated by their experience", said Julie Howell, Campaigns
Officer
(Accessible Internet) at RNIB. "Poorly designed search engines
make the
Internet a non-starter for many of the UK's 1.7 million people
with a
serious sight problem. We hope that Yahoo!, Altavista and
Infoseek will
take the simple steps required to make their sites easier to use
if you
cannot access the screen in the conventional manner."

With the help of adaptive technology people with serious sight
problems
have the potential to use the Internet to access information
otherwise
unavailable to them. Website designers must give a little
creative thought
to how they design web sites if this potential is to become a
reality.
RNIB and the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative have produced a
free video
for Web designers who are interested in knowing more about Web
design for
all. A copy of 'Websites that Work' can be obtained from Julie
Howell on
020-7391 2191 and, in
conjunction with Westminster Digital, it is now being Webcast
over the
Internet at http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/wtw.htm.

Notes:

The research paper 'Access to information on the world-wide web
for blind
and visually impaired people' by Charles Oppenheim and Karen
Selby was
published in Aslib Proceedings volume 51, number 10.

The WAI Web Content Authoring Guidelines are available online at
http://www.w3.org/WAI

Further information about RNIB's Campaign for Better Web design
is
available online at http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital

RNIB's Technology Service provides a wide range of information on
the use
of technology by blind and partially sighted people. The service
helps
sighted and visually impaired people such as employers, those in
work or
seeking work, students, teachers, parents, and educational and
employment
professionals. RNIB Technology Information Service can be
contacted at:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/technology or telephone 024-7636 9555 or
email
[log in to unmask]

RNIB is the leading charity working on behalf of the 1.7 million
people
with a serious sight problem in the UK, providing over 60
services
including benefits advice, education, leisure, health and
employment. For
further details ring the RNIB Helpline on 0845-766 9999.

Professor Charles Oppenheim may be contacted at the Department of
Information Science, Loughborough University, Loughborough Leics
LE11 3TU
or by email at [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]


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