[WEB4LIB] Re: Web/ADA/uh oh...

[P.A. Gantt]

Not rude, but a head sup to meisters whose employers
receive gov't. funding. It is the law. What can I say?

Make a good faith effort to become compliant as
soon as possible. Law suits are being filed all
over. (As witnessed by the example that began this thread.)

To avoid such to your various institutions or
employers work on compliance. After all, you certainly
don't want your employers to get in trouble which ultimately
means a <eh hem> not so nice job retention problem for you right?
(Plumber's adage.)

I teach at a CC and have taught over 24 sections
uni. level. David brings up an excellent point on
visual impairment which includes dyslexic-like
symptomology. Use sans serif fonting as large
as possible. There are also utilities to "zoom" font
sizing you can add.

For coding hints, this one just was posted
to the ADA Law List:

http://www.usdoj.gov/

Notice the Text Only Version option at the top of the page.
Certainly doable and will save folks major head scratching.

Also, did you know you can easily edit images to add the
<alt> tag using the Netscape Composer insert image?
Not sure the comparable in NS IE. I am running NSC 4.5
full blown and have just now started exploring MS I.E. beta 5.

Also for W3 Compliance see this one I think was already
posted:

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

http://www.w3.org/WAI/

 "...

"The power of the Web is in its universality.  Access by everyone regardless of
disability is an essential aspect."
     -- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

November 12, 1998: WAI Authoring Tool Guidelines publishes first public WAI AU
Working Draft

..."

<snip>

> Many users can change the settings of their browser to over-ride
> your settings, but for a .gov, .edu, etc site that must meet ADA
> compliancy, it seems rude to force those users to have to do that.

</snip>

It is not necessary to totally give up graphics... see the DOJ
link above. REASONABLE accommodation is the key.
I have major accommodation formatting to work on even
on my personally funded site (for academic use only) but
then the effort is not wasted and a good holiday activity for
me to work on <alt> tags and formatting changes. In the
spirit of the holidays let us not forget the challenged patrons
we serve.

Best to all,

--
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/etech/
Electronic Media Design and Support Homepage
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
<mailto:pagantt at technologist.com>
To leave me a message or learn more:
http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb222487