On 11/2/06, Barney Carroll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear list,
Not sure if this is exactly the place to ask, but I am very eager to get
any authoritative (and by now, 'authoritative' can be qualified by
anybody who's so much as seen one) information on screen readers.
I suspect some of this conversation might be a tiny bit out of scope
for hte WSG list, but hey... I don't mind. If you want more
specialised discussion, then WAI have an interest group mailing list
that you an use [1] and you can get some direct answers and thoughts
from those working within the W3C.
I am a css-enthusiastic web designer who sees the value of standards as
a concept but does not necessarily bow to baseless trends, and more and
more I see potentially brilliant ideas get shot down in the community
because of 'standards' zealots who are very keen to violently condemn
certain methods of working because of very dim notions of accessibility.
I'm pretty curious to know which standardistas you're talking to then
- most I know are into the standards area because they do care about
accessibility and good sites for all.
While there is always common sense to fall back on, and we are lucky
enough to live in a world with such a thing as the w3c, there are times
when I become suspicious of accessibility precepts. "You can't do this
because screen readers will mess it up" is incredibly common for
inexperienced, adventurous web designers, before their imagination and
creative approach to code is finally conditioned out of them without
their ever being too sure why.
Despite the fact I haven't been able to find anyone who has ever used a
screen reader, I (have no choice but to) respect the notion that web
sites should allow them a seamless, fulfilling, experience. I am
obviously not doing this for any practical reward - as I've mentioned I
have never had any contact with a screen reader user - for all I care
they could not actually exist; but as a challenge to a very pure state
of markup, the grail of smooth screen-reader navigation is worth achieving.
Recently I wrote a blog post about screen readers, and was invited to
attend some real live screen reader demos with blind users. You might
find these useful if you do want to get some experience. [2]
If you do a quick google, there's a few organisations in the UK that
do accessbility testing for you, with users who have accessibility
"special needs" (for want of a better term).
[1]http://www.w3.org/WAI/IG/
[2]http://www.fberriman.com/?p=105#comment-3592
--
Frances Berriman
http://fberriman.com
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