[Gllug] Perl Question - Spam Filter for NMS Form Mail

[Ryan Cartwright]

2009/2/9 Lesley Binks <lesleyb at pgcroft.net>:
> From http://www.mcu.org.uk/articles/accessguidelines.html
>
> "From the W3C guidelines:
>
>    Text can be readily output to speech synthesizers and braille
>    displays, and can be presented visually (in a variety of sizes) on
>    computer displays and paper. Synthesized speech is critical for
>    individuals who are blind and for many people with the reading
>    difficulties that often accompany cognitive disabilities, learning
>    disabilities, and deafness. Braille is essential for individuals who
>    are both deaf and blind, as well as many individuals whose only
>    sensory disability is blindness. Text displayed visually benefits
>    users who are deaf as well as the majority of Web users.
> "
>
> While I'm at a loss as to how to provide a braille output of a web page,
> let alone ensure that it reproduces either correctly or sufficiently well
> in that media and I will admit that I don't use a speech synthesizer to
> view the web, the recaptcha offering does have audio output.

As Joel has said braille readers are hardware based. Most Braille
readers will look for and use any stylesheet tagged for that media
(and/or "aural"), failing that they will render a plain text
equivalent of the page (e.g. one with no stylesheet applied). Your
duty is to not restrict services because the user happens to have a
disability.

Captcha by nature tends to use images and those without an ALT tag
listing the captcha content (otherwise the bots would read them).
Whilst aural readers are served by an audio equivalent captcha,
braille is not. If your captcha prevents somebody with a braille
reader from contacting you (if that's what the form is for) then you
could be liable under the DDA. For the Disability Rights Commission
this could well be viewed as seriously as having a shop accessible
only by steps. Of course words like "reasonable" and "adequate" are
used by many to work around such requirements and the DRC have claimed
they prefer working with offenders to prosecuting them. Considering
how much we all moan when a website is not-Firefox compatible, would
it not be a little hypocritical for us not to make some effort for
aural or braille users?

Proper accessibility in websites is about more than meeting w3c
guidelines BTW. Look at it from the users' point of view. Things like
providing text-only equivalents that provide the same level of
service, meaningful ALT tags, "skip banner" links and content that can
be easily laid out in a single column all help the experience greatly.

WRT spam-prevention, I find captcha useful only in hindering bots. It
would seem that plenty of spammers are humans who fill out the forms
with cut n paste. As long as a contact form does not permit them to
spam other people, just leave the form and deal with any spam as it
arrives. ( cue Martin ;o) )

HTH
-- 
Ryan Cartwright
Equitas IT Solutions
http://www.equitasit.co.uk
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