aDesigner is "a disability simulator that helps designers ensure that their content and applications are accessible and usable by the visually impaired. The new version adds support for OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Flash content; presentation simulation function for ODF documents." Ever since the first graphic designers started to try to bend HTML to their will, people have complained that many web sites subvert the standards that early web architects designed to make navigating easier for the visually impaired. Read more for more discussion...
Post a Comment
Member since:
2005-06-29
Member since:2005-07-21
Member since:
2006-10-08
Well, I think the topic "make it usable for disabled users" (e. g. blind ones) is very important. You cannot exclude those users from the geowing market and the increasing requirements of IT.
I may add a simple example: While designing web pages, you're welcome to use HTML well. It provides many means that allows the designer to create appealing weg pages and presenting the content in an attractive manner, while it's still possible for a blind person to read the content - transferred onto a Braille output panel or a voice synthesizer. Simple check: Load your web page into lynx or w3m. With many "script kiddies" relying on "Flash", different kinds of active content (I may count Java here, too) and non-standard designer tools (those that output .html files that do contain anything but valid HTML), the situation is more complicated. Under certain circumstances (that you find nearly everywhere today), a blind person won't know if he or she is on the right web page, because nothing is Braille-readable at all, not even a "You need 'Flash' to see this" is provided. Sad, very sad.
More complicated things are web applications or applications in general that utilize the graphical screen. Their transfer to a Braille output is much more complicated than putting 80x25 terminal content onto it (this is, in fact, very easy).
In oder to make the web more accessible, the importance of standard conformity (HTML, XHTML) should be emphasized first. These basics are most important to know and to use. Yes, it is that easy. Afterwards, further checking programs are very welcome, for example those that can check color reliability with deuteranopia or tritanopia. This is of special importance for GUI design. Things that should not look the same should not look the same to anyone. But remember: The best application cannot help the web designer if he does not know enough about the stuff he's doing.
Having said this, I really welcome any program that helps web designers who are interested in a barrier-free presentation of the content they want to provide.
I won't go in detail regarding the mentioned application so I don't tend to be impolite. See comments above. :-)