On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 14:54:59 +1000, Gary Menzel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are plenty of accesible free webmail clients available. > > Explan to me why GMail has to make it's product accessible to everyone?
It's not that Google *has to* make GMail accessible, semantic, minimal, and all the other qualities we admire in good website building. Of course they don't. But should people stop criticising them and "shut up" (to quote an infamous US cable shockjock )? Not at all. To me, it's a real shame that Google, which is creating some of the most amazing web experiences around (Google Maps, Google Suggest, GMail...), appears to be pretty much ignoring accessibility (in the case of GMail, anyway). Google has taken some huge steps forward in the world of browser-based applications. It has devised some amazing services, with great usability - for those that can get access to the sites. But it's made some poor choices along the way. I reckon it's possible to build those great web apps in a way that is degrades gracefully, is accessible, has clean and lean markup, complies with standards, and separates content from presentation. ... but I fear we are veering somewhat into a philosophical discussion here ... ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
