Here's a WA POST Rant -- and a copy of the letter I just sent them. I
encourage all designers here to read Raspberry's op-ed and respond ...
RE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/16/010l-111698-idx.html
Mr. Raspberry, it is YOU who needs to "get a grip."
The World Wide Web is predicated on open standards and open access -- access
to information regardless of computing platform or software. Coding a web
site so that it easily accessible to voice output devices as well as
"graphical" browsers like Netscape Communicator is not only good web design
-- it is required if a web site wants to be compliant with HTML 4.0, the
current standard for code.
If your rant is "should public computing kiosks have voice output as well as
visual output" -- that is a different rant. But all government web sites
should be coded to be accessible to all citizens -- after all, the sites are
being built with public money to provide access to public information. And,
the tools to make the information easily accessible are readily available
and do not pose an undue burden on the web site designer.
Your op-ed piece falls victim to its faulty premise -- that the only sites
that are universally accessible are "text-only." Not so! Just check out
sites with Bobby (http://www.cast.org/bobby/) and you'll see that sites do
not have to be "boring" to be accessible.
Kathy E. Gill
Web Designer
Bellevue WA
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