> "I dont need to make my site 'accessible' to everyone!"
If you're sure - then fine. Perfect examples are sites like RipCurl & Billabong. Most people don't see the broader benefits of "accessibility" or "usability" though, for example better performance in search engines, happier customers, higher click through -> sales conversion rates, lower development costs (than some of the alternatives). > "What's a 'screen reader' - cant they read their own screens?" Hmm. Designing for screen readers and impaired users is not the only aspect of accessibility. I'm talking about designing sites that are accessible to my Dad. He's fully sighted and uses a decent computer/browser, but he is not a geek, he just someone trying to achieve certain tasks. The learning curve assocaited with trying to replicate an operating system interface using javascript or flash is a turn off for people like him. > "Users should just put up with whatever the developer gives them!" That attitude is very much like "You customers should put up with whatever I give them". If you are doing your customers a favour then fine (but they are not really "customers"), if not your business has a limited life expectancy. Saying the end user should put up with whatever you give them is just once removed - "My customers, customers' should put up with whatever I give them". Very funny indeed. We've recently lauched a site that has a huge form on it (almost 100 fields). I don't know who orginally built the site but it sucked and the form sucked even more. We rebuilt the form using very similar HTML code the the stuff I posted in the previous email. Super simple, no tables, no trickiness, very logical basic layout, low level accessibility stuff. The client has had more people filling out the form in the last week than he was previously getting in a month - he's impressed/excited enough to tell me about it. Not meaning to gloat here - just an real life example. Anyone on this board could have done the same thing if they have the right mind set. I don't think your Joe average user is turned on by gimicks - they just want simple, clear interfaces that allow them to do what they want to do with minimal fuss. RANT: The problem with most development community initiatives in Australia (think website awards, designer forums, etc..) is that they encourage geeks & designers to build stuff that impresses other geeks and designers. This about it - if car manfacturers designed cars to impress their collegues and competitors where would we be? One more link: http://www.adobe.com/web/features/zeldman20000821/main.html - Zeldman hits the nail on the head.... for the 100000th time. Cheers Mark ______________ Mark Stanton Web Production Gruden Pty Ltd Tel: 9956 6388 Mob: 0410 458 201 Fax: 9956 8433 www.gruden.com --- You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MX Downunder AsiaPac DevCon - http://mxdu.com/
