Murray and Simon,
You raise good points here. I am, as is my wont, being very idealistic.
What I would suggest, to clarify my point, is that people who design web
pages be conscious about the audiences they intend to address. I advocate
awareness of what constitutes "universal" access, but indeed, it's not
realistic for me to believe that everyone will learn about what can be
done for all kinds of pwds who might visit a site.
Also, as we know, there are simply some things that cannot be communicated
with words, such as an atmosphere created by the design and organization
of the pages.
What concerns me about webpage designers, though, is that they make
conscious decisions *assuming*, for example, that "oh, blind people
don't care about the info that I'm putting here." That seems dangerous to
me, but it's more a matter of attitudinal awareness than web page design,
in some ways. When off-the-shelf web-designing tools help to promote
access, that will be very helpful. It seems to me that it's a matter of
ethics, so it's rather complicated,
but it seems to me that it's less complicated when it comes to
commerciall sites.
I agree that some things, such as contrast, can be customized, but what
I'm especially referring to is access to basic content.
I am interested, though, in your question about making
university-based web pages accessible to people with learning
disabilities. Why wouldn't you, since people with learning disabilities
might (are?) students there? Shouldn't those students have access to that
information?
Jennifer
On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Murray K.
Simpson wrote:
> [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > Am I missing the point, but if web pages are written to contain all
> > information that the author intends them to relate, then how
> > accessable they are is really a matter of appropriate layout (handled
> > by the browser). In which case shouldn't it be the browser (all
> > browsers) that is customisable to suit an individuals layout choices?
> >
>
> I think you make an important point here Simon. There is an assumption
> sometimes that universal accessibility is something which web designers
> can achieve by their own efforts, but I think there are a number of
> barriers to this. first, there simply isn't a universally accessible
> format - high contrast text, for instance, might suit many people with
> visual impairments, but maybe not all people with dyslexia. As Simon
> points out this can be set by the individual reader's browser. Second,
> most web pages are being designed by people with little training,
> resources or feedback. I'm not being an apologist for poor web design
> here, I accept that web designers do have some responsibilities in this
> area, but equally, I know myself that I created some fairly unreadable
> pages in my time when I was experimenting with HTML writing. I'm sure I
> still do make mistakes, but I'm not trained or paid as an expert web
> designer, rarely does anyone get back to me to say "That's not quite
> working Murray." and any time I get to work on web design I have to
> carve out of my workload. My third point is whether all web pages are
> intended for universal audiences? To what extent is it unreasonable for
> me to exclude people with learning disabilities from easy access to
> Unversity related web pages? Or to broaden it out from disability,
> non-English speakers?
>
> best wishes
>
> Murray
>
> --
>
> =================================
>
> Murray K. Simpson,
> Department of Social Work,
> Frankland Building,
> The University of Dundee,
> Dundee DD1 4HN,
> United Kingdom.
>
> http://www.dundee.ac.uk/socialwork/mainpage.htm
>
> http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~mksimpso
>
> tel. 01382 344948
> fax. 01382 221512
> e.mail [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
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