On Wed, 4 Jul 2018 12:44:11 -0500 William Hubbs <[email protected]> wrote:
> Yes I would benefit from this change, but it is not a case of optimizing > for one. It is a case of opening up the use of the wiki to the largest > audiance possible. This is just good universal design. Unfortunately, my experience with wiki's indicates that's not really an option we have. There are lots of different formats, sure, but lots of those formats reduce to being restrictive, declarative formats, where "content" is stuffed into a range of formats predefined in the markups syntax. This ultimately ends up *restricting* the range of *visual* tools at our disposal for distinguishing details on a case-by-case basis, by forcing all details to adhere to a universally simplified scheme. While I do appreciate the difficulty presented to people with sight-impairment, I'd opt primarily for choices that help them *without* compromising the range of options we have for visual distinguishers. Just as it stands, a syntax that is represented as a simplification of HTML via templates, where new terms can be created in terms of HTML, and where raw HTML can be used in a pinch, tends to make the best of these options for unimpaired people. Its a shitty situation all round really, because as best as I can tell, there's no choice without some painful compromise for somebody. So while a universal design is an admirable goal, I fear in practice it will have the same results as what "universal interfaces" achieve: A reduction in net functionality because the more interesting/advanced functionality is out of the reach of some users. ( Yes, yes, I'm aware of my sight-privilege talking )
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