On 6/15/07, Sandra Clark wrote: > > Don't look on it as "dumbing down". Think of it as the ability to degrade > gracefully.
I like the degrade graceful stuff as a um... "edge case"(?) vs. using it as a second means of communicating.... for someone that's forced to use X, which doesn't work with Y. Not for someone who has the option of picking W which works smashingly with Y. Why would you want all that extra overhead of downloading the stuff you won't be able to see, and that might mess up your reader, when you've got the option of using an interface that's made especially for your special needs? Sure, you can have all the bells and whistles you want to give to your > non-disabled clients, just make sure that your site works with a keyboard as > well as a mouse. That a screen reader can read your updates using Ajax. That's what I am aiming for... Heck, I like using the keyboard over the mouse most times. Just thinking it would be easier to wank on a specific wrapper(s) for the data, vs. a sorta generic wrapper, meant to be all things to all people. Both WCAG and 508 are in the process of updating their requirements. Both > groups are taking technology innovations into account. Technically, with a "plain" version available, you wouldn't have to test your other stuff at all with screen readers and such. Is that part of the specs that are going to change, do you know? And is it still considered kind of tacky, even if you do automagic browser detection and whatnot (content negotiation), so they don't even know they're seeing a targeted format? Things aren't as dire as they use to be. ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet > Applications) is starting to provide a way for Browsers, Screen Readers and > other Accessible Technology devices and other programs and technologies > (such as Flash and Ajax) to be able to work together to provide the stuff we > want to give the 70% of the population that has no problem and still, while > not always providing the same user experience to the other 30%, doesn't > penalize them for being disabled. I was checking that stuff out (ARIA). Sounds intriguing. Spec'n the stuff out is quite a task in itself. Well, now, more questions: What is a good browser to use to see how it's going to look to disabled folks? Or is it more about settings in a normal browser (larger text, no imgs, etc.)? In my last foray into this area, I was a bit put out by the seeming lack of "free" browsers for the disabled. Looked like all the "good stuff" was pretty expensive. Has this changed, or are we getting around it by making things like FireFox/the OS more flexible? Still mostly MS doing assistive tech? I feel bad asking any non-personal question these days, seeing as how the answers are out there... but it is nice having input from someone in the field. Thanks for you insight, Sandra! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 The most significant release in over 10 years. Upgrade & see new features. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJR Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:236746 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
