RE: Hello?

>Hey, John... like the liveliness? :)
Yup, I do... hopefully it will maintain...

Lauren, why do you think that accessible sites must be bland?  Riddle me
this... do you test your sites in more than one browser?  Or do you believe
that as long as it works in Int*rn*t Explor*r that's good enough?
Accessibility isn't about dumbing down a site, or making it boring, it's
about ensuring that what you are offering is available to the largest
possible audience.  If that includes blind, deaf, and motor deficient people
as well, isn't that a bonus?  Make your sites *broader* by making them
accessible.

I appreciate a lively debate, and your points are ones made often, but your
final questions puzzle me.  Why do either of these figures matter?  As a
business owner, everybody's money is green, right?  If I could do something
that would increase the potential customer base of my company, even by just
a few, I think I would try right?  I may not get them all, but every extra
one I do is one more...

The "handicapped" community is by and large pragmatic... they know they have
disabilities.  Blind people aren't going to be spending a lot of time at
"greatphotos.com", but at the same time, what if they wanted to buy a framed
photo as a gift for a sited friend.  If "greatphotos.com" had useful and
descriptive ALT tags (or better yet LONGDESC tags), the blind person would
be able to make an informed choice, select a great gift for their friend
(probably rave about the site to all of their other friends - word of mouth
is a great marketing tool), and "greatphotos.com" made another sale... just
because they built their site with accessibility issues in mind.

Think about it...

JF



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-aware-techniques(at)hwg.org
[mailto:owner-aware-techniques(at)hwg.org]On Behalf Of Lauren Hanka
Sent: January 23, 2002 3:53 PM
To: aware-techniques(at)hwg.org
Subject: Re: Hello?


Great input Sarah, but you should believe what you are hearing, because
since I've said it, there must be others thinking it also.

Please tell us just why we should care! Hearing? Most Web sites are
quite --why would *that* matter? Cognitive/motor? What problems and how do
we adjust? --is it practical? --would it *really* create a benefit? If a
site is made to be easily usable for the widest possible audience, does that
mean making a site *less* than what it could be for the *broad* majority of
users? Should the broad majority have bland sites because of the
difficulties of a few? What is the percentage of users who require specially
designed sites compared to those that do not?

*Why* does such designing make smart business sense? What is the percentage
of people who *will or do* use the Web compared to the percentage of people
with disabilities? --because it is not the same figure.

Hey, John... like the liveliness? :)

Lauren



----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Kuehnle" <sarah(at)thedesigngirl.com>
To: <aware-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: Hello?


> Wow, I can hardly believe what I'm reading here.
>
> Design for accessibility does not mean making a site usable to a person
who
> is visually impaired. It includes people of many diabilities, including
> visual, hearing, and cognitive disabilities. I wish I had the figures
beside
> me to quote from, but I know that the percentage of people with
disabilities
> in North America alone, makes designing for accessibility a smart business
> practice.
>
> Designing accessible web sites means designing for the widest audience
> possible. It means making sites intuitive, easy to use, valuable sources
of
> information, that can be accessed by anyone.
>
> I've included an article below about the values of designing accessible
web
> sites, that may help show some importance.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Sarah Kuehnle
> - Web Developer

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