Blind Man Sues for Accessible Web/Wa Post Op-Ed

[Gill, Kathy]

Here's a WA POST Rant in response to a lawsuit filed regarding access to bus
schedules on the web
<http://spyglass1.sjmercury.com/breaking/docs/010466.htm> -- and a copy of
the letter I sent The WAPost. 

I encourage ya'll to read Raspberry's op-ed and respond ...

<excerpt>
But someone already has come up with something that works quite well for
most of us: Web sites with lots of graphics, sound, video clips and such
that make it possible to provide useful information in user-friendly ways
(and also to facilitate the advertising that makes many Web sites worth
providing in the first place). Apparently a return to a text-based system
would make it easier for the visually impaired, though arguably less
attractive for the rest of us. Is that a violation?
</excerpt>


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
> Kathy E. Gill
> DCAC/MRM Production Visibility Support -- 425.234.2004, pager 425.568.0195
> Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to
> unlocking our potential.
> ~ Liane Cardes
> Microsoft Exchange: the perfect name for its users' greatest desire!
> 
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