Re: Universal Accessibility

Well, this is a tough issue, because there isn't a "universal" answer. We
struggle with accessibility issues every day, here at HyperGold, and the best we
can do is compromise. It all breaks down to cost, and ROI. Let me list a few of
the issues:

1. Cost. How much will it cost to make the site UA? More specifically, what
percentage of the web development budget should be dedicated to it? Should the
client spend 20% of the budget, for example, on resolving the ever-widening gap
between IE and Netscape, if only 12% of the visitors to the site use Netscape?
>From where we sit, the gap between the two browsers is becoming so large that
soon, few of our clients are going to want to pay to make the pages look exactly
the same in both (and all versions, while we're at it).

2. Cool vs Uncool. In the final analysis, the customer is still always right. We
can address the UA issue and explain the ramifications, but if the client wants
"bells and whistles" all over the place, the client gets bells and whistles. If
the client then doesn't want to spend money to make the site accessible to all
browsers, what are we do do? Say, "no"? They'll simply find another designer who
will give them what they want.

3. Ignorance. Part of our job is to educate the clients, so they can make
intelligent choices. Of course, some clients can't be educated, because they
already know everything there is to know about the universe, and all of its
parts <s>. For those, you give it your best shot, then give them what they want.
For the rest, there are some sound arguments you can use.

Scenario: Suppose the site's mission is to sell ordinary retail products for the
home. The client is in love with Flash, and wants the whole site to be one big
interactive Flash movie, because "Gee! It's just like TV!" What version of
Flash? Will all customers be able to instantly find products and throw them in
their carts, then quickly and easily purchase them? Or will some have problems,
some have to download the latest Flash viewer, etc, and leave in frustration,
never to return?

Question for the client: How many sales are you willing to lose because of this
technology?

Scenario: Suppose the site's mission is to deliver information content. The
client is head-over-heels in love with streaming media. He wants to pay
thousands of dollars for a ten minute video that uses nine minutes to brag about
himself, and one minute to deliver the information the site is supposed to
deliver, but not a single dime to make the site UA.

Questions for the client: Is this video technology essential to accomplishing
the mission of the site? Is it ok not to deliver the message to 10-20% of the
visitors who don't have the player or the bandwidth to view it?

If you know the demographic makeup of the visitors to a site, along with the
browser types and versions they use, then it's pretty easy to graph out the user
profile. Then you can present this as a matter of course, when your client is
comtemplating technology-intensive features, and predict the percentage of
mission failure, should alternatives not be considered for each bell and
whistle. At that point, you've done your job, and the rest is up to your client.

Rob Wood
http://www.hypergold.com




Eric Madej wrote:

> Hi,
>
> As a web designer I'm finding it hard to incorporate universal accessibility
> into clients sites. My clients often don't see the point of covering all
> browsers and all platforms when designing their site. They usually use
> examples of sites that don't take accessibility into consideration and ask
> me, "Why can't we have that?". They love shockwave and large graphic content
> and don't seem to care about universal accessibility.
>
> In one of the e-mails in your mailing-list archives someone stated:
>
> "If we are going to be professional about our pages, we need to stop
> focusing on how cool all the latest toys are and make sure that we are not
> leaving part of the audience behind.  After all, professional writing is
> about the needs of the reader not the ego of the writer.  Of course, that
> may just be the tech writer in me talking."
>
> I am a strong supporter of universal accessibility as well.
>
> My question is how do we convince our clients that the universally
> accessible sites we create are of greater value and/or more effective then
> those that are not universally accessible.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Eric Madej

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