Non-A.D.A. compliant software woes (Docutek)

[Stacy Pober]

We just recently began using the Docutek EReserves system at our
library. 
There are a lot of features I like about this system, and the ease of
use 
is very high.  

However, the entire web-based interface uses very small fonts for many
of
the key links.  The font declarations use specific point sizes to
specify
the fonts.

When specific point sizes for fonts are used Netscape and Internet
Explorer 
will NOT increase the font size through the normal menu commands of 
View -> Increase Font in Netscape, or
View -> Text Size -> Largest in Internet Explorer

Both browsers would increase the on-screen print size if relative font 
sizes declarations were used.

I spent a good part of last week training staff on this system and we're 
having problems because the print is just too tiny for some of our staff 
to see easily.  I don't want to have to increase the underlying Windows 
font size setting because that increases the font for ALL programs and 
all other web pages - not just for this one web-based application. The 
people having problems do not have any serious visual problems with the 
other applications they routinely use, so making everything bigger all 
the time is not a good solution for this. 

I have been corresponding with Docutek support about this and they said 
they are working towards Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.  
But that's in the future, and we're having the problem now.  They
strongly 
discouraged me from changing the font sizes on the pages on the ERes
server. 

I was bitching about this to a friend who works with a disability
service
agency, and she said, "They can't just refuse to be A.D.A. compliant. 
That's like a restaurant owner saying, 'If you can't get access, eat 
somewhere else.'"  But it seems like there are a lot of software vendors
who are still not producing A.D.A. compliant sofware now ELEVEN YEARS
after the Act was passed.  It's not like they haven't had ample 
warning or that this is some new burden.  This should be an issue that 
software designers and web page writers think about in the initial
stages
of developing their web pages or user interface. 

I know the Docutek system is widely used by other academic libraries, 
so I'm hoping someone else here has had this problem and can suggest 
a solution.  

Suggestions, anyone?

-- 
Stacy Pober
Information Alchemist
Manhattan College Libraries
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.manhattan.edu/library/