[Javascript] Accessibility (discussion)

[David Dorward]

Troy III Ajnej wrote:
> I just visited "news.bbc.co.uk" and they offer "low graphics" version

Which is more useful from a "I'm on a mobile with low bandwidth"
perspective then an accessibility one.

> But the "accessibility help" will only send you to the page that will 
> advice and teach you how to use accessibility tools available on your
> operating system, but doesn't offer anything else on the site itself.

Which is the right thing to do.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Teach a man to fish using the esoteric equipment that is firmed rooted
outside your shack, and you only feed him whenever he happens to be in
your neck of the woods.

> My idea is to code the pages in 4:3 aspect conform to at least 1024px
> or 1280px screen width in original then after it is finished to implement
> the script that will react to current window width/resolution of the 
> user during and after load time. So that graphics can get stretched
> to about 1600px screen width resolution without visible impact on
> picture quality, since its only 25% bigger.

That depends a great deal on the graphic. Some look terrible even with a
slight among of stretching.

There are basically three types of content that need to be considered
when creating a page that you want to adapt to window size.

* Graphics that are boards and backgrounds

If you make these tile or fade to a solid colour, then there isn't a
problem.

* Graphics that are content

These should not be resized. Many people buy larger monitors so they can
see more content without scrolling - not so they can see everything bigger.

* Content that flows (like text)

These is where the width is important - if the area is very wide, then
you end up with exceptionally long line lengths which are hard to read.

You don't need JavaScript to solve this though, CSS has everything you need:

#content {
	width: 80%;
	max-width: 38em;
}




-- 
David Dorward                               <http://dorward.me.uk/>