Re: Animation and Stickin' (Here's how to do it right)

There's a problem with the suggestions that Bobby makes.  They go to the
absolute extreme.  One of our assistant webmasters ran it on our site,
which we have tried very hard to fit the needs of the disabled due to its
content, and was told two things.

1.  Use no tables
2.  Make a text-only version of your site.

Considering that there are thousands of pages on this site, this seems a
little extreme.  We had a surfer that complained our site wasn't
Bobby-compliant.  It was the decision of the senior design staff that we
would keep doing what we were doing, and ignore this web machine.  Instead
we checked the whole site with all versions of Netscape and IE, Mosaic,
Lynx, and a browser for the blind that one of our lead staffers has for
this very purpose.

I agree that the Bobby machine serves an excellent purpose, but I won't
follow its instructions to the letter just to get a stupid star on my site.
 This doesn't mean I've joined the Fuggimator with his "Damn the torpedoes,
full speed ahead with technology" opinion, but I can't put all my faith in
the workings of a single web machine.  If I get excessive complaints from
the visually-impaired (one in two years so far) then I'll think about
changing.

Brian Sinclair
Senior Assistant Webmaster
Self-Help & Psychology Magazine
http://www.cybertowers.com/selfhelp/
ICQ: 4167685
Member HTML Writers Guild, International Webmasters Association,
Association of Internet Professionals

At 03:16 PM 4/8/98 +0000, Frank Arnold wrote:
>OK, folks...
>Here is how it should be done.
>Check your code.
>Frank Arnold
>===================================================
>Subject:       CAST Announces Bobby upgrade  & Beta release of  Bobby
Application
>To:            EASI(at)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>
>>CAST Announces Bobby upgrade  & Beta release of  Bobby Application
>>
>>CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) is pleased to announce the
>>release of a major upgrade to the Bobby (v. 2.01) web site
>>(http://www.cast.org/bobby) and the release of the Bobby Application (Beta
>>1).
>>
>>The Bobby web site  is a free service of  CAST  that will analyze single web
>>pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities. Bobby will also
>>examine a page's HTML to see if it is incompatible with selected web
>>browsers or HTML specifications. Major changes to the web site include:
>>
>>* Use the W3C's HTML 4.0  Web Accessibility Guidelines for Page Authoring to
>>determine accessibility of a page.
>>* Implementation of both Required AND Recommended WAI guidelines is
>>necessary to get "Bobby Approved".
>>(Be sure to check previously approved pages)
>>* Access to a FAQ page to assist people with questions about Bobby
>>
>>The Bobby application is available for downloading on the Bobby home page,
>>or go directly to: http://www.cast.org/bobby/download.html. It is a free
>>application  that:
>>* Tests local files and entire web sites for accessibility.
>>* Gives you Lynx-style page previews for every page.
>>* Is written in JAVA and will run under Solaris and Windows 95/NT.
>>
>>In addition, a generic Java installer is available for other platforms that
>>run Java version 1.1 or greater. Another version will be released in a month
>>that will run on MAC OS. It will also have improved accessibility features
>>for users with disabilities.
>>
>>About CAST: Founded in 1984, CAST is a not-for-profit organization whose
>>mission is to expand opportunities for all people -- especially those with
>>disabilities -- through the innovative uses of computer technology.
>>
>>For more Information, contact:
>>bobby(at)cast.org
>>http://www.cast.org/bobby
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>Dick Banks                      Adaptive Technologist - Consultant
>       EASI Electronic Resource Manager - Universal Access  Consultant
>        EASI  Equal Access to Software and Information
>                       EASI Listening - http://www.rit.edu/~easi
>
>
>

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