[thelist] Accessible Flash

Erika Meyer meyer at up.edu
Fri Dec 1 18:17:37 CST 2000


>
>I'd love to have a critique of it, even if the site is already old 
>and the company consumed by another - what did we do right? What did 
>we do wrong? :)
>
>http://www.littleblueeasy.com/arcadus/


well, I enjoy the site & the soft on-or-off background music, and the 
colors, and the navigation is pretty elegant. It is clear that this 
is definitely a place I would NEVER want to work.... (when a company 
says up front it expects 40 hrs a week MINIMUM and refers to certain 
employees as "Technology Slaves", my brain says SCRAM!" -- I mean, 
assuming there is not an excellent on-site child care center, which 
is the bare minimum I would expect from an employer who would expect 
employees to work like slaves.. but I digress.)  ---

***

Regarding the A List Apart article, I thought it was an interesting 
one.  Too bad about the ALA mailing list.

I think that Macromedia should get some credit for at least trying 
for more accessibility; and also it should be recognized that 
accessibility is pretty intertwined with the purpose of a site... I 
mean, how are you going to make "Once Upon A Forest" or other such 
sites really "accessible."  In many cases, text just works on 
different brain cells than the subtle modulations of  color, form, 
sound....

It's when these full-on flash design styles get applied to commercial 
sites that usability and accessibility become an issue, IMO.

I pretty much agree with the author that accessibility is at best 
pretty much an afterthought in all realms of the dot com world.

But there are some companies who don't even pretend to care.

"Anna Lonergan, a spokesperson for The Gap, told [PC World] the 
company has no plans to make its site accessible. "We're aware of the 
technologies but have no plans to implement them," she said. Asked 
why not, she replied, "That touches in the realm of strategy, and we 
don't discuss strategy."
http://www.pcworld.com/features/article.asp?aid=17690


bleagh. :-b

Erika





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