[Gllug] Barbican website - accessibility issues

[Jason Clifford]

On Tue, 12 Nov 2002 CEvers at barbican.org.uk wrote:

> To take disabled access first, I guess we would all agree that the key group
> here is people with visual impairments. Visual impairment is not an all or
> nothing condition, and not all visually-impaired people want to use
> text-only browsers and/or text-to-speech converters, simply because they
> enjoy using sites that have interesting visual content.  

This is true however if the site does not work at all for a lot of users 
due to the poor design decisions (or lack of good design decisions) such 
as over reliance on Javascript (over 10% of all IE users have Javascript 
disabled) making such decisions tends to have a negative impact upon far 
larger numbers than you might think.

> that an arts site has a duty to be visually interesting/aesthetically
> pleasing - would this be possible if we followed W3C standards to the
> letter?  I'm not convinced. 

The point of the standard is that you provide a base line wherein the site 
will still function properly. Currently your site fails this very basic 
test.

It does not preclude you from using more advanced techniques where you 
wish. In fact a standards compliant design will generally allow you to 
make better use of such techniques.

> I also wanted to quickly deal with the comment from Linuxlover that I am
> "bowing to corporate giants such as Microsoft".  I think that Microsoft have
> been a force for good and for bad in the development of IT over the last 20
> years.  On the negative side are the issues we all know about from the
> anti-trust case in the US.  On the positive side I would argue that their
> products have made IT affordable to many more individuals and organizations
> than would have been possible otherwise - I suspect you disagree with me on
> this!

The reason that millions of PCs run MS platforms is that MS for over a 
decade tacitely encouraged unauthorised copying and distribution of their 
software.

A large percentage of MS users are using illegal copies of the software. 
Over the past couple of years MS has implemented more and more measures to 
"encourage" such users to purchase a legal copy. As these measures bite 
more over time I think you'll see a lot more people disagreeing with you 
on this point.

> So getting down to details, what concrete steps should the Barbican be
> taking to evolve its website in the broad direction you and I agree we
> should be taking?

The first and most important thing that needs to happen is for you to 
makea policy decision to not unnecessarily exclude visitors from your 
site. You seem to have done this and are to be applauded for doing so.

>From this you can then review the design concepts behind your site and 
then decide how best to implement the design in a standards compliant 
manner. Doing this should result in a site that is easier for you to 
maintain however it will require some work for the initial reworking.

> members who act as representatives for this kind of exercise, even better -
> but please, no businesses. 

One question with regard to that point: why no businesses?

Do you state "no businesses" when you are considering other aspects of 
your information infrastructure?

It may well be that the best GLLUG members to help you with this are 
professional web designers - ie businesses. Note that I am not a designer 
so that does not include me. I handle infrastructure rather than design.

Jason Clifford
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