Hi all, Michael - I'm not exactly sure which message in particular you are replying to, but I have a few comments on this statement you made:
On 11/2/06, Michael Yeaney wrote: >And yet again...on the topic of screen readers, nobody has once >mentioned the possibility that perhaps we as web developers a pretty >darn good job, and that maybe it is the screen reader manufacturers >that need the 'kick in the balls' Perhaps "we" are doing a pretty darn good job. Sadly though, we are not in the majority. And therein lies the difficulty. When we talk about "we" doing a pretty darn good job, we're talking about - what - maybe 5% of web professionals worldwide? More, less? I'm not sure but we're not in the majority as far as I can tell. Further - you have written about screen reader manufacturers. What, exactly are the issues that you feel you need to "kick them in the balls" about? Frances - you said: >I think that poor screen reader software is a very *big* issue that is >generally overlooked since we do not use them. If we're going to do anything, then we'd better be able to say somethign more substantial that "poor screen reader software" - we need to be able to back it up. (That sounded like I was singling you out, Frances - but far from it... You just happened to comment) This is one thing we're attempting to address with the Assistive Technology Initiative of the Web Standards Project's Accessibility Task Force [1]. Through this initiative we are talking with screen reader manufacturers and other Assistive Technology vendors. They are engaging with us to work together. (Note that we're working with any vendors that want - for profit, open source, whatever) (For those of you that don't know, I'm a WaSP member and Lead of the WaSP Accessibility Task Force) So if I may make a few suggestions: 1. Let us not kick anyone in the balls. We're part of the same team here. Lets keep this constructive. Michael - what exactly is it about screen readers that is bugging you? Frances - what is it about them that is poor? Anyone else? 2. Are there issues that you want to have us address in our discussions with them? Or are there things you want clarified? 3. Take these items and email them to me for now - I'm going to figure out some other mechanism (perhaps on the WaSP site) to collect these ideas and feedback from you and we'll pull them all together. For now - email to me is fine (he says with much trepidation!) Cheers, Derek. [1] <http://webstandards.org/action/atf/open-invitation-to-assistive- technology-vendors/> -- Derek Featherstone [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: +1 613-599-9784 1-866-932-4878 (toll-free in North America) Web Development: http://www.furtherahead.com Personal: http://www.boxofchocolates.ca Web Standards: http://www.webstandards.org ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
