

Re: Illustrating Guidelines

From: Lisa Seeman <seeman@netvision.net.il>
Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 16:00:25 +0200
Message-ID: <00c101c0dbb5$10dc2400$0c95003e@seeman>
To: "Marti" <marti@agassa.com>, "WAI" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
I am afraid that I do not know what you are trying to say. Is it that we
should concentrate on text  because we are used to that, or is it a
welcoming of new information so that we can  move forward?
Please explain to me how providing a diagrammatic representation to
accompany the text, could make the text harder to access. Or how adding
graphics like Anne did makes the page less accessible to anyone?
Alternative rendering, - surely that is are motto. Not "Text only"
-----Original Message-----
From: Marti <marti@agassa.com>
To: Lisa Seeman <seeman@netvision.net.il>; Charles McCathieNevile
<charles@w3.org>; WAI <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Date: Sunday, May 13, 2001 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: Illustrating Guidelines

> Thank you for providing a lot of useful information that has greatly
>enhanced my understanding of  these conditions.
> I don't think anybody is saying we should not try to include guidelines
>that help people with LD, CD etc, rather we are stuggling with just how to
>do that.  In particular how to do that without making things harder for
>other groups at the same time.  It is unfortunate, but a fact, that what
>helps one group may make life more difficult for others.  An example in the
>"real" world is curb cuts. Absolutely needed for wheelchairs, loved by
>mothers with baby strollers and somehting generally liked by everybody once
>they got accustomed to the idea but ...
>Did you know they are a problem for the blind? Did you know that a curb cut
>makes it hard for many blind people to find the curb edge so they can line
>up to cross streets properly?
>What seems to be happening here is we have needs that conflict with each
>other, what makes it more accessible to one group interfers with the access
>of another and the requirements may discourage people from even trying to
>make things more accessible.
>I venture to guess that not so many years ago, before the GUI, those with
>LD, CD etc did not use computers at all.  Now, with the GUI everywhere, and
>multi-media growing by leaps and bounds things are so tantalizingly close
>must be a major frustration.
>I believe we fall back on the TEXT answer because we know the most about
>it was here before the GUI.  Alt text and things like it are, after all
>meant to provide access in a manner that exsisted before the GUI.
>What we are reaching for now is really new ground, and the more
>understanding we have of the needs of these groups the better chance we
>have of developing good answers.
Received on Sunday, 13 May 2001 09:00:05 GMT
