Kintanon tries to argue that "you cannot FEEL the web, you cannot HEAR it, or Taste it, or smell it."
Kintanon, I hate to point out your ignorance, but you're wrong here. Hundreds of thousands of people (possibly as high as 4% of all users) "hear" the web every day, or "feel" it using Braille.
You may not want to, for whatever reason, believe that those people are out there, but believe me, they exist and they matter as much as anyone else in the world.
Hi, Kintanon, I beg to differ with you. The web is not a visual medium; it's an information medium. The information (content + structure) flows around the web and is expressed (presentation) in a way that's most appropriate to the user's particular desires and capabilities.
This is one of the core principles for the interoperability and platform-independence of the web. This is why the web is not simply a proprietary unix or (god forbid) Microsoft network; it's open to everyone.
For more on my personal thoughts on this matter, you're welcome to read this essay I wrote about the web as an information, not a visual, medium.
Actually, you don't need to code your page in any special markup language to make it more accessible to blind users. You just have to code in HTML -- because it was designed so that proper HTML will be accessible html.
Nearly any web page that's made "correctly" with valid HTML 4.0 should be at least minimally accessible. This was part of the design requirements for the HTML specification.
jabber, in many cases you're correct -- the same "reasonable accommodations" that make web sites more accessible to people with disabilities can also make them more usable by cell phones and PDAs.
You also might want to look into the use of WML, an XML-based markup language similar to HTML, which is used in WAP phones. Here's a link to the WAP forum.
seichert, I agree with you, that if we all cared about the handicapped, then laws such as the ADA would be unnecessary.
Unfortunately, as can be seen from this particular subject here on/. even, many people do not care about the blind, and there's a lot of ignorance out there regarding the use of computers and the Internet by people with visual (or other) disabilities.
Some coward asked "who decides what minority groups we have to cater to?"
In general, this is defined by the law, and it is actually well defined. Before you go off assuming that your liberties are being stripped, you might want to do some research first, and you will find out answers to your questions.
O'Reilly and many other publishing houses will indeed make versions of dead-tree books available on disk to users with special needs -- the HTML Writers Guild recently discovered, to our delight, that a blind member who wanted to take our online course in HTML 4.0 had access to an electronic version of the text from the publisher, Sybex.
Yes, you're correct -- the comments stating "What's next?? Making paintings accessible to the blind??" are really off base, and fail to discern that accessibility laws are primarily concerned with needs not just wants and all of them have the "undue burden" clause incorporated into them.
Making a website or a computer application accessible is almost always NOT an undue burden, and is thus a reasonable accommodation.
Slashdot's homepage is ALMOST accessible. The Center for Applied Special Technology has a web service called Bobby (which can also be run as a standalone application) designed to evaluate the accessibility of web sites to people with disabilities.
Java applications and applets can indeed be made accessible, quite easily! If you use the IBM Self-Voicing Kit (SVK) with the Sun Java Foundation Classes ("Swing"), it's pretty easy to build Java programs that interface seamlessly with assistive technology.
There's a bit of a problem in the way that articles on this topic have been written -- reporters glossing over the facts in favor of a more sensational headline, and of course that makes it harder for the average person to understand what's going on here.
One thing to keep in mind here is that this is primarily a story about the federal government deciding to mandate accessible web authoring practices on their own pages. In one sense, this is no different from any other large company deciding that they will follow a certain standard level of HTML coding on their own websites.
In a broader sense, however, it's vitally important that information that the government provides can be used by everyone, and not necessarily exclude one type of person, especially not on basis of a disability. This is why public buildings are wheelchair accessible and why braille versions of documents are made available. As required by the ADA, if you are going to make something available to sighted people, you also need to make it available to people who can't see, for example.
Now, the good thing is that the proper use of HTML (and other web technologies) actually makes it trivially EASY to provide disabled people with the same access to information that non-disabled folks enjoy. The web is a very egalitarian, platform-independent medium, better than any we've ever had before on the planet, and if you make your web page well, nobody should have any problem with accessing it.
Of course, there's the rub -- the vast majority of web pages aren't made "well", and I mean that from a technical, HTML-pedant standpoint. The biggest "sin" is a lack of alternative text (ALT attributes) on image-heavy sites, and that alone makes it very hard for people with disabilities to use many web sites.
Now, the solution here is NOT to throw away graphics-heavy, table-laden, multimedia extravaganza websites. The specifications that make the web work were designed specifically to allow for new advances of technology while still maintaining usability in older browsers. Adding ALT text and other features that benefit various users (such as disabled folks, people with older browers, and people with the newest tech such as web-enabled phones, pagers, or PDAs) is simple and painless, and does not mean you have to give up your lovely design!
So why don't people do it? Why aren't they using HTML to its fullest and creating pages that aren't exclusionary? It's primarily a case of awareness. Most web designers aren't aware of the problems nor are they aware of how easily those can be solved. It's because of that lack of awareness that the HTML Writers Guild created the AWARE Center.
The AWARE Center is a special project of the non-profit HTML Writers Guild, and the letters stand for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education. The goal of the AWARE Center is to promote a better understanding among web authors of the need for accessible web design and the ways in which this can be accomplished.
You can find out more about accessible web authoring at the AWARE Center homepage:
Slashdot Mirror
Kintanon, I hate to point out your ignorance, but you're wrong here. Hundreds of thousands of people (possibly as high as 4% of all users) "hear" the web every day, or "feel" it using Braille.
You may not want to, for whatever reason, believe that those people are out there, but believe me, they exist and they matter as much as anyone else in the world.
--Kynn
This is one of the core principles for the interoperability and platform-independence of the web. This is why the web is not simply a proprietary unix or (god forbid) Microsoft network; it's open to everyone.
For more on my personal thoughts on this matter, you're welcome to read this essay I wrote about the web as an information, not a visual, medium.
--Kynn
Nearly any web page that's made "correctly" with valid HTML 4.0 should be at least minimally accessible. This was part of the design requirements for the HTML specification.
--Kynn
You also might want to look into the use of WML, an XML-based markup language similar to HTML, which is used in WAP phones. Here's a link to the WAP forum.
--Kynn
Unfortunately, as can be seen from this particular subject here on /. even, many people do not care about the blind, and there's a lot of ignorance out there regarding the use of computers and the Internet by people with visual (or other) disabilities.
--Kynn
In general, this is defined by the law, and it is actually well defined. Before you go off assuming that your liberties are being stripped, you might want to do some research first, and you will find out answers to your questions.
--Kynn
--Kynn
Making a website or a computer application accessible is almost always NOT an undue burden, and is thus a reasonable accommodation.
--Kynn
--Kynn
Bobby is at http://www.cast.org/bobby/
According to Bobby, the slashdot page is missing one ALT attribute on one IMG tag. Here's a link to the Bobby analysis of slashdot.
For comparison, here's the same type of analysis for cnn.com.
--Kynn
Java applications and applets can indeed be made accessible, quite easily! If you use the IBM Self-Voicing Kit (SVK) with the Sun Java Foundation Classes ("Swing"), it's pretty easy to build Java programs that interface seamlessly with assistive technology.
There is a section on Java Accessibility on the
AWARE Center
website, at http://aware.hwg.org/tips/. Enjoy!
There's a bit of a problem in the way that
articles on this topic have been written --
reporters glossing over the facts in favor of
a more sensational headline, and of course that
makes it harder for the average person to
understand what's going on here.
One thing to keep in mind here is that this is
primarily a story about the federal government
deciding to mandate accessible web authoring
practices on their own pages. In one sense,
this is no different from any other large
company deciding that they will follow a certain
standard level of HTML coding on their own
websites.
In a broader sense, however, it's vitally
important that information that the government
provides can be used by everyone, and not
necessarily exclude one type of person, especially
not on basis of a disability. This is why
public buildings are wheelchair accessible
and why braille versions of documents are
made available. As required by the ADA, if you
are going to make something available to sighted
people, you also need to make it available to
people who can't see, for example.
Now, the good thing is that the proper use of
HTML (and other web technologies) actually makes
it trivially EASY to provide disabled people with
the same access to information that non-disabled
folks enjoy. The web is a very egalitarian,
platform-independent medium, better than any
we've ever had before on the planet, and if you
make your web page well, nobody should have any
problem with accessing it.
Of course, there's the rub -- the vast majority
of web pages aren't made "well", and I mean that
from a technical, HTML-pedant standpoint. The
biggest "sin" is a lack of alternative text
(ALT attributes) on image-heavy sites, and that
alone makes it very hard for people with
disabilities to use many web sites.
Now, the solution here is NOT to throw away
graphics-heavy, table-laden, multimedia
extravaganza websites. The specifications that
make the web work were designed specifically to
allow for new advances of technology while still
maintaining usability in older browsers. Adding
ALT text and other features that benefit various
users (such as disabled folks, people with older
browers, and people with the newest tech such as
web-enabled phones, pagers, or PDAs) is simple
and painless, and does not mean you have to give
up your lovely design!
So why don't people do it? Why aren't they using
HTML to its fullest and creating pages that aren't
exclusionary? It's primarily a case of awareness.
Most web designers aren't aware of the problems
nor are they aware of how easily those can be
solved. It's because of that lack of awareness
that the HTML Writers Guild created the AWARE
Center.
The AWARE Center is a special project of the
non-profit HTML Writers Guild, and the letters
stand for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and
Education. The goal of the AWARE Center is to
promote a better understanding among web authors
of the need for accessible web design and the ways
in which this can be accomplished.
You can find out more about accessible web
authoring at the AWARE Center homepage:
http://aware.hwg.org/
The site is a resource for the community and is
open to anyone, HWG member or not. If you have
any questions, you can send me email at
aware@hwg.org.
--Kynn Bartlett
Director, AWARE Center
HTML Writers Guild