[Web4lib] Mailto: links that can't be harvested by spambots?

[Maurice York]

Sorry, Ross. I've gotta disagree on that one. Huge swaths of parking lots
and a good deal of public transportation conveyances don't work well for
"these people" either, but the people with disabilities that I know don't
like to resign themselves to disappointment any more than the rest of us.

My general mode of operating: if you have two options for implementing
something as accessible or not accessible, choose the accessible root. If
there's no accessible option apparent, it's worth a little digging and
research to see if there's an option you're missing. If there's still no
accessible method, make sure that it degrades gracefully for the folks who
have screen readers, or who have javascript turned off, etc, etc. Most
importantly, know your audience. I'll use AJAX in a staff interface because
I know the people using it have Firefox or IE with the bells and whistles
turned on and don't use alternative devices for interpreting the screen (I
also know they're not trying to use it on PDAs or cell phones, etc). I'm
more reluctant to use it in a student interface, where the environment is
much more open and unpredictable and the choice to use something flashy or
convenient may mean that someone doesn't get their course materials today.

Fundamentally, keeping accessibility in mind just leads to better design,
whether I'm motivated by doing it for those with disabilities or not.

-Maurice

On 2/18/07, Ross Singer <ross.singer at library.gatech.edu> wrote:
>
> On 2/18/07, Tim Spalding <tim at librarything.com> wrote:
>
> > There is a slight drawback to JS techniques—they're not fully
> > accessible. If the user has JS turned off, the links vanish. That's
>
> Of course huge swaths of the internets don't work for these people, as
> well, so they have somehow learned to cope with disappointment.
>
> Basically, I wouldn't let this argument deter anyone.
>
> -Ross.
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>



-- 
************************************
Maurice York
Team Leader, Circulation and E-Learning Services
Woodruff Library
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
mcyork at emory.edu