[BC] Another BAD website.......

[Fred Gleason]

On Wednesday 05 October 2005 19:34, WFIFeng at aol.com wrote:
> All I was advocating was that there should (at the very minimum) a
> requirement that WEBsites at least offer a *minimal* support for blind
> users, such as a toll-free number in plain text, so that your assistance
> devices can read it to you. If Macromedia is actually making methods for
> text-based browsers to read the stuff in Flash, that is a very good thing.
> The ball is clearly in the WEBsite Designer's court, though.

'Required' by whom?  Enforced how?  What about jurisdiction -- if a site 
hosted in California, by a company headquartered in Delaware is viewed by a 
surfer in New Jersey, what set of laws apply?  How about sites located 
overseas?

Believe me Willie, as someone who runs an all-Linux operation (both servers 
and desktops), I am *very* cognizant of how frustrating non-standard web 
sites can be.  I don't think bringing Big Brother into the picture is the 
answer, though -- getting 'a little regulated' is like the old chestnut about 
being 'a little bit pregnant'.  Once the camel's nose gets under the tent and 
the regulatory authority is established, it *will* grow.  Inexorably.  
Ultimately, as web designers become better educated in their craft, this is 
something the marketplace will work out.  It's much like the days of 
broadcasting in the early 1920s -- *no one* really knew what they were doing 
at first, but eventually a set professional standards and practices were 
emerged.  This process already has made substantial progress as far as Linux 
compatibility is concerned -- there are very, very few sites that I cannot 
now navigate with Firefox.

Cheers!


|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Frederick F. Gleason, Jr. | Director of Broadcast Software Development  |
|                           |             Salem Radio Labs                |
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|     Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.      |
|                                         -- John Updike                  |
|                                            "Couples"                    |
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