Re: vo and alt attributes on the web:

[Travis Siegel]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree in this case.  Your final question as  
stated is less likely to get a response than is the original  
question.  It's been my experience that as soon as you mention screen  
readers, because most webmasters don't have a clue what they are,  
they'll dismiss your claim out of hand and you'll never hear from  
them again, nor will you get the page fixed.  If you talk strictly  
about the html code, you're a lot more likely to get a response, and  
in general, at least something gets done.  Even if the link doesn't  
get fixed, at least you'll get a response explaining why it is coded  
that way.
I realize more web masters should be aware of adaptive technologies,  
but the hard truth is, they're not, and mentioning them generally  
only gets you a blank stare as it were in response.
This experience is built on more than 10 years of web surfing, ZI've  
tried nearly every approach to get pages fixed, and I can tell you  
right out, talking about the html code directly is the best way to  
get a response.  Trust me on this, I've spent many hours giving  
feedback to webmasters, and the only ones I've gotten responses from  
are the ones when html was the only topic of conversation.  Unless  
it's an adaptive technology site, you're more likely to be ignored  
than you are to get a response if you mention screen readers.  Not to  
say it doesn't happen, only that it's orders of magnitude greater if  
you leave screen readers out of it.Sad, but true.