Great reply (as always) Russ!
Can I also add my 2c worth...
Tee, when you say "This is not a site for government but client wanted WCAG
AA compliant.", do you think your clients are asking for that because they
wanted to make your life difficult? Ask yourself why anybody would want to
ask for AA compliance? Consider this (some-what long) scenario...
<scenario>
You are a very successful business owner of a computer and electronics
store. The business is booming and you decide you want bigger premises to
extend upon your business lines. You also want to be located closer to the
city to increase your potential customer base. You sign a large contract
with a building firm to build some new premises for you in the city. Your
main requirements were for a grand entrance, certain floor size and modern
decor. You leave everything else in the hands of these 'professional'
builders.
6 months later, and after much anticipation, you get the call from the
builders to come and check on the progress of the works. The builders found
some fantastic inner-city premises that fitted all requirements. They
completely re-renovated the existing building site, including the inclusion
of the most impressive electronics store entrance ever imagined!! You are
blown away by the beautiful, high-tech design. However, you then think about
"Jenny", a disabled employee of yours who has been with you since you
started your business in 10 years ago. You say "The entrance is very
impressive. But all I can see are stairs leading up to the building - where
are the ramps?". You go on to point out several features that make the site
premises impractical for wheel-chair bound customers, such as high-bench
tops, steps throughout the site, high shelving, narrow entrance, narrow
toilets and wide vanities (impossible to reach the taps unless standing up
and leaning over). You then think of "Mr Forster" and "Mrs Hartlett",
Jenny's best friend. In fact, it dawns on you that you have many loyal
customers who have a disability. You suddenly realise that the things you
put in place for Jenny, made your business attractive to many additional
customers you otherwise would not have had. And now your new business site
was going to make it impossible for these customers to keep coming back!!
</scenario>
Fortunately, in building there are standards that are adopted which force
builder to comply with basic accessibility standards, so the above scenario
is unlikely to occur. However, with web sites, the standards are not
enforced so you never know what you will get unless you demand it from web
developer(s).
We must understand that standards are not there to make developers life's
difficult. I see accessibility standards as the karma of the web. For those
that comply, good things will happen to you. For those that don't? Well,
think of it this way - those that don't comply are like the bullies in the
school yard picking on those who are unable to fend for themselves. Karma
will make you pay for that!
Cheers
Nathan
----- Original Message -----
From: "russ - maxdesign" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Web Standards Group" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [WSG] Priority 2 error - Clearly identify the target of each
link.
Hi Tee,
Is it an "Idiotic error"?
Imagine you're blind...
Like a sighted user, you want to be able to skim across web pages rather
than having to read every single word.
For sighted users this is easy, as their eyes can grab snippets of content
and subheadings to give them some context - without having to read the
page
from start to finish.
For blind users who want to skim across a page, or jump straight to
desired
content, there are two common methods they use.
1. pop open a "headings" dialog box that lists all headings on the page.
Then they can quickly select the desired heading and jump to this heading
on
the page.
2. pop open a "links" dialog box that lists all links on the page. Just
like
headings, they should then be able to choose from the list of links, and
jump straight to the desired link on the page.
Now, imagine that the link dialog box comes up and many of the links say
"continue reading". This would mean the blind user has absolutely no
context
for any of these link. This method of navigating is now much less useful.
The same happens when they come across this sort of link when reading the
page contents. A link saying "continue reading" gives them absolutely no
context. They have to guess from associated content what you are pointing
to.
I've seen this happen many times when watching blind users in action and
it
is very frustrating for these people! Some are so irritated that they
simple
leave the website and go elsewhere.
This is going to sound pompous... But even if it was not a legal
requirement, it should be a moral obligation for all developers. We should
all be trying to make our pages accessible to as many people as possible -
not placing barriers in their way.
If desperate, you can use methods like "simple, accessible more links":
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/more-links/
Apologies for the rant :)
Russ
on 21/10/07 7:13 AM, Tee G. Peng at wrote:
working on a project that must meet all mechanical check for priority
2, via WAI or Total validator. Client is from UK and according to an
article I read, by year 2008, all government websites must meet the
priority 2 is that correct? This is not a site for government but
client wanted WCAG AA compliant.
In the site, there is a section for blog, and the excerpt follows
with a 'continue reading' link (title attribute generated by the blog
or CMS script I have yet to find out, and can't find a way to change
or customize it). In the same page more than one article is listed,
that means more than one title attribute with 'continue reading', as
a result I am unable to pass the Priority 2: 13.1 Clearly identify
the target of each link.
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#tech-meaningful-links
Can this idiotically error be ignored?
Thanks!
tee
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