Re: text fot acccessibility

Hi again!
> I guess my point was, that the double-pipe is not only going to show up
> in Lynx, but it will also show up in non-CSS graphics browsers (eg.,
> Netscape 3), and it will show up if users turn off their CSS, or
> possibly if they have a user-defined style sheet.

Ah, ok.
I hadn;t thought of those.

I have to admit - i'm not too bothered (ducking flames, here) about the
older graphic browsers.
I'm even reluctant to fix code for NS4 (but i will - it's just that trying
to work out how to get the text to flow around the pics which look fine in
newer-than-NS4, but get all overlaid in NS4, really doesn;t figure high on
my "list of priorities".

I *know* NS4 is still popular; but equally, users have a choice to upgrade,
and haven;t made that choice.
Whereas disabled users don;t have much choice, they are stuck with text-only
or limited graphics etc.
Therefore - i *am* willing to make an effort to make my pages as accessible
as possible for text-only browsers, and consider accessibilty issues;
but i'm not too keen on making that sort of effort for the older browsers
when newer ones are freely available.
ok, i know this is not acceptable to many - but i'm learning, i want to code
for newer browsers, with "graceful degradation" and accessibility
consideration.
I have to prioritise all the stuff i have to learn.....

Even checking out special NS4 coding is not high on that list of
priorities -
Let alone the older ones that you name.
I have (just now) made the decision not to support older than NS4, so i lose
some people - but that is my choice.
(and i don;t know how to test these anyway, and i really don;t want more old
browsers on my machine)


> It's not necessarily bad to go against standard for the colors of links,
> as long as you're very consistent throughout the site, and as long as
> it's very obvious which text is a link and which isn't. IMO, using a
> different font as well as a different color is very helpful.
Yes, i'll probably go this way too -

> Some people think that it's important to retain the underlining of
> links, since again that's "standard." I don't relly agree with that.
Only on "hover", a fair compromise :-)

> Personally, I'm not fond of links within a block of text anyway.
> Especially when there are a lot of links like that. I find they're far
> too much of a distraction. I'd rather see a "for more information"
> section between paragraphs or at the end of an article with a list of
> links.
Funnily enough - i've been considering putting all the links at the bottom
of the page now (possibly an internal-page link within the text that is very
subtle, to the bottom-of-page full links - then i can use your icon idea,
without breaking up the text.

http://mysite.freeserve.com/bbm/hagar/HH/HHInfoMgmt.htm
(currently) has 2 external links (currently purple). (and many more later,
when the content is expanded about 4-times.)
(And also, i'll puit in internal links from the index-list at the top to the
relevant sections -  later!)

Other than a different font, and maybe a darker-brown or a darker colour, i
don;t want to highlight these as links to break up the text;
but links at the bottom of the page would be much better; though then, an
attempt to *use* an inline link would take you to the bottom; and if i have
the links repeated on the links page, i end up with loads of duplicated code
(that is also not easy to manage - but hey, that's my problem ;-)


> Displaying the actual URL of the links can be handy too, for the benefit
> of those who have printed your page.
The full address i had considered, in as much as i quote it in full in my
"links" page, where i repeat all the external links (all 4 of them, to
date) -
But i hadn;t considered the page of info being printed out.
So again, putting it at the bottom of the page could be useful....

> Seems to me that most users would prefer to read your entire article
> before going off to explore others, and the list of links at the end
> would be more convenient anyway.
good point - but even with the links page?
yes,. probably!

> I like the "underline on hover" idea, but of couse remember that it
> doesn't work in Netscape 4 or in non-CSS browsers. ;-)
well - so!
;-)

I'll "bust a gut" for accessibility, but not older browsers.    (ouch.
Prospective flames accepted)

hilma
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