[Sigia-l] Web Accessibility on Government Websites outside US

[Benjamin Protas]

On Tuesday, July 16, 2002, at 02:28 AM, Ronald Tan wrote:

>
> 1.    Is there a need to justify the necessity since the disabled 
> community
> is
>        relatively small?

Absolutely.  Accessible design is not just about reaching every nook and 
cranny of the audience; designing with accessibility in mind increases a 
site's utility for everyone.  I wouldn't say that the disabled community 
is "relatively small", either; at some point in their lives, a vast 
majority of people experience some sort of disability -- be it visual, 
cognitive, auditory, or otherwise -- that affects their ability to use the 
web.


> 2.    Is there another means of implemeting Web Accessible websites 
> without
>        developing a speperate version from the graphic savvy versions?
>

Yes, there are several, though you have to stretch your idea of what it 
means to develop a website. For example, one way is to design all your 
content to be independent of display and store it in a database.  Then, 
you can develop different presentations of the content depending on 
individual needs.  Besides having the benefit of making accessibility 
easier to implement, you get other benefits such as the capability to 
deliver content to alternative platforms such as PDA's or cell phones 
basically for free.

Even though you have different "presentations", this is still the "same" 
website.  Users come to government websites for content and information, 
not for look, and that is what you have to keep current.  This approach 
also does not "marginalize" the disabled users, by giving them a site that 
is inferior in terms of content -- they are getting the SAME information 
that everyone else does, presented in a way that makes sense for their 
needs.



Ben Protas
ben at benprotas.com