March 13, 2002
You may have read it. It's classic: Web Pages aren't Printed on Paper. Every now and then I come across an article that either shakes to the core my way of thinking, or that I think everyone should read because I hope it'll have that effect on them. Something that sums up so well what I've been trying to say for a long time. This is one of those.
One of the major issues in accessibility is also one of the broader topic of usability: you have to give up the idea of having control over the page, break down your assumptions about how your users are experiencing your page. Because I can guarantee you that someone's doing something that you didn't expect that will break your carefully constructed design. It may turn out that something that you've done is breaking their experience, making it impossible for them to access your content.
The Web accessibility training session that I helped lead today got me thinking about this.
The training went well, I think. We spent more time than I expected going over what I thought was some pretty basic stuff with CSS. Still, there was some good discussion. I am continually amazed/dismayed by the level of resistance from faculty that my campus-based cohorts face in attempting to address accessibility concerns in online instructional materials. Somehow making web pages accessible to students with disabilities becomes an issue of academic freedom. Disgusting.
Was the same argument raised with regard to wheelchair ramps? We've changed our physical architecture to ensure that the disabled/impaired have access, now we're turning our attention to our electronic, information architecture. It's the same damn thing.
If nothing else, MnSCU has a new set of accessibility guidelines. Right now I consider them in version 0.9. With some changes that I'll make over the next week, we'll get to version 1.0.
