Coding for intranets (was RE: [thelist] Color Chooser Review -- c orrection)

Tom Dell'Aringa pixelmech at yahoo.com
Wed May 29 11:40:01 CDT 2002


This thread could be renamed - "Coding for the disabled in intranets". Some of you have brought
up, again, valid points about the disabled and accessibility. Some of you, particularly Martin,
like to use scare tactics and threaten lawsuits from unknown entities in some point in the future.


This is supposed to make the person and/or company who the tactic is directed at rethink their
position. Frankly, it doesn't work. If you called our board of directors and tried it they would
laugh you out the door.

You could head over to your browser right now, find 50 big businesses online operating some kind
of e-commerce model that does not offer the disabled (blind or deaf or anything else) access. Then
you can get your high powered lawyer and sue them all.

That won't change the fact that companies (like where I work) will continue to build applications
just like we are now for a long time. Profit is the motive (right or wrong, facts jack.)

And regardless of said laws, which you can quote over and over again, they simply aren't always
follwed. Again, I don't say wrong or right, I'm just stating my experience over the past 9 years
in this industry. Particularly at a $100 million dollar company, and at a pure-play Internet
professional services firm - not working from my basement.

Lastly, check out Jupiter Media Matrix's list of the top 50 web properties:

http://www.jmm.com/xp/jmm/press/mediaMetrixTop50.xml

How many of them are disabled accessible? I don't know. Certainly Yahoo! stuff is. But you go down
that list, and you have lots of targets for your drooling lawyers.

Remember, if the Internet didn't come through on its promise to make big money, it would still be
HTML 1.1 and the Mosaic browser (which I imagine some people would love) I for one am thankful to
be having this conversation!

/tom

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