[Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

[David McDonald]

I received a rather verbose tirade about a specialty web site that our library helped create.  We were involved minimally in the design of the site as the committee decided to contract that out to an outside source.  However, I have been asked to respond to this sharp criticism of the web site.
 
I know it's not perfect and I know there are problems.  We had to create and design the site in about a month and half.  However, most of the complaints he had were dealing with accessibility.
 
His primary complaint was that the web site required the use of Flash in order to view some its pages.  Unfortunately, when he clicked on the "update to the latest Flash player" link, he was confronted with the following message from Adobe:
"We are unable to locate a Web player that matches your platform and browser."
 
He states: "There is no need to use Flash, HTML can to the job."  He then goes on to discuss the proprietary nature of Flash and that it is not answerable to Canadian law ... blah, blah, blah.
 
In my opinion, Flash should not be considered something extravagant that the average "citizen" doesn't have on his/her computer (or can't download).  Libraries should feel perfectly comfortable using Flash on specialty web sites as most people can use this type of software.
 
My questions to the group are:
To what extent do you believe that we should cater to patrons who may not have the latest and greatest hardware and software?  Do we need to kowtow to the lowest common denominator?  Should we include alternative pages that require no downloads?
 
Thanks for any help.
 
Cheers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David S. McDonald
Systems and Library Technology Manager
Nova Scotia Legislative Library
P.O. Box 396, 
Halifax, Nova Scotia  B3J 2P8  
(902)424-5658 Fax (902) 424-0220
mcdonads at gov.ns.ca