Slashdot Mirror
Do the Blind Deserve More Effort on the Web?
dratcw writes "An article was posted this week to ComputerWorld, detailing the frustrations faced by blind people struggling to use the Web. The piece shows how little progress has been made and the inadequacy of solutions such as Microsoft's Narrator screen reader. While the article generated many positive comments, one reader said the disabled should 'get a grip' and maintained they 'have no more right to demand that others provide for their needs than I, as a diabetic, have a right to demand that sugar no longer be used.' Should Web sites and software makers do more, or does the reality of today's economics dictate that the blind/disabled will continue to struggle and learn to live with it?"
I can't see why not.
Are you kidding? Those at least can be enjoyed by blind and seeing people alike!
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
I find it highly insensitive that you have overlooked the deaf community. Surely they also wish to enjoy such magnificent web pages.
09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0
I once worked for a web design company (back when image maps were generally server-side supported, not client-side) that had truly bad design choices. One for a page that used a server-side image map, they tried to include text links at the bottom of the page so that the links could still be followed by search engines. Except they couldn't get the text to position itself precisely on enough clients that it wouldn't break their (NetObjects Fusion) layout table... so they turned the text links into an image of text links and made it another server-side image map.
This was when the boss angrily declared, "I am not an idiot!" when I tried to point out the problem to him.
The last thing I ever did for that company was finally give them something they really wanted: a frameset that constrained the usable real-estate on a page to be no more than 640x480. They then converted their own website to use that frameset and quickly went out of business.
The parent company though still publishes a free, local, ad-supported business magazine. Their website even as an "Accessibility Statement" page.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Flash Hall of PR Shame
There... I fixed it for ya...
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
:-)
Rather than having html that uses an image link, use an href and swap the link out for an image using CSS. It's easy to do, and makes navigation MUCH simpler to implement and use.
If you open your page in Lynx (or disable CSS) and cannot decipher it, then it will not work for the blind. Frankly, it also makes me hate the designer. I will refrain from making comments about what Slashdot looks like with CSS turned off
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
Speaking as a guy that's 70% deaf:
F'r the love o' Pete, NO!
Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
Sometimes when you browse in the off corners of the web, you find wonderful examples of how to entertain those, that are (perhaps not by choice) totally reliant on their eyes...
I want to share one of those I found a while ago:
Jones Partners: Architecture
WARNING!! MAY CAUSE SEISURES, HEADACHES, NAUSEA, BLEEDING AND/OR EXPLODING EYES
Disclaimer: Following the link is voluntary. I am not morally, financially, or in any other way responsible for the wellbeing of those following the link in this post. You have been warned. Good luck.
Manuals are your last resort only
Two words. Sing them with me:
Flash! Aaa-aah!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
This is "Abuse". "Arguments" is down the hall.
posting anon for badly butchering a great monty python skit.
man 2008 became 1968 , for a moment i thought i was 5 mo. old again
"I don't pitch OpenSUSE Linux to my friends, i let Microsoft do it for me
That website made me want to kill someone. Just sayin'
Well, I finally found a use for psychoactive drugs. OMG. What were they thinking when they made that site? And more importantly, why is it still up? Ack!
InnerWeb
Freud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.
What can stay? It's an empty black page with nothing on it.