[musictlk] Inaccessible online contact forms and Websites

[Joshua Lester]

Jorge, you'd better make sure the audio file works. On the "Church
Locater" link, on our denomination's Website, www.upci.org, there's a
captcha on it. There's supposedly an audio file, ("speak the
captcha.)" The "speak the captcha," link doesn't play, so I don't know
what the captcha is. Your best bet would be to do the former, (plain
contact form, regulating the E-mails.) That's the most accessible way
to do it, (IMO.) Blessings, Joshua

On 2/20/11, Jorge Paez <jorgeapaez at mac.com> wrote:
> Hi Kerry and Josh:
>
> I myself am an independent musician,
> and I too, like many, knew I needed a website.
>
> The difference for me though
> was that I wanted to control all the elements of my site.
>
> The interesting thing I found was that most of the web creation programs
> that are accessible from the creator's point are also accessible from the
> viewer's point.
>
> The one core belief  that I've kept since the start when I founded my
> company
> even as we've tried different web technologies to keep up to date is
> that all the sites have to be accessible.
>
> And since my team is composed of all blind individuals, its been easy to
> keep track of this.
>
> However, there is also the issue of security, specially
> when it comes to contact forms,
> so I'd thought I'd put this out for opinions.
>
> Do you think a plain contact form is better,
> and just regulate the email that comes in,
> or would a recaptcha (captcha with an audio file) be good enough for
> accessibility?
>
>
> What do you guys think?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jorge
>
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 21, 2011, at 12:06 AM, Kerry Thompson wrote:
>
>> Hi friends,
>>
>> Sorry for not being around for a while.
>>
>> Joshua, I agree with you completely about inaccessible web sites. It does
>> need to be pointed out, though, that the musician or singer whose site it
>> ostensibly is doesn't have anything to do with the design andmaintenanceof
>> the site. So, don't blame the musician. It's the webmaster you need to
>> contact about accessibility issues.
>>
>> I also hate sites that have music that starts as soon as you land there.
>> And, as you say, worse are sites where you can't shut off the music.
>> Engelbert's old site was like that. I wrote to the contact address, which
>> turned out to be his fan coordinator, and suggested a minor adjustment in
>> the page coding that would let the visitor turn the music on and off. The
>> fan coordinator was very nice and said she'd pass my suggestion on to the
>> web team. I don't know if it's coincidence or my influence, but the new
>> web site does not include music that comes on automatically and can't be
>> switched off.
>>
>> You've probably discovered this, but often the music is only on the home
>> page. If you can manage to get to another page in the site, you should be
>> all right. A well designed site has all the site links either on every
>> individual page or on the main page of every section, so you don't really
>> need the home page.
>>
>> Your point about accessibility is well taken. With one glaring exception,
>> all the instructors I had for Web Tech classes stressed that accessibility
>> and usability, which are related but different,should always be part of
>> good design practice. Unfortunately though, an awful lot of people who
>> design and maintain web sites don't seem to have been taught this concept.
>> Nor, apparently, have they heard of the W3C (the World Wide Web
>> Consortium), which is just such a standards body as you mention. Adhering
>> to W3C standards ensures that your site is correctly constructed and well
>> designed. That in turn pretty much guarantees that it is maximally usable
>> and accessible. But, you can't force people to conform to W3C guidelines,
>> more's the pity. All you can do is write to the individual sites you visit
>> and point out their usability and accessibility shortcomings.
>>
>> Mike, I don't think it matters whether you're using SAPI, say, or an
>> external synthesizer. This is a basic web design element. If a
>> designer/developer is going to use music on a site, he darned well ought
>> to know how to use it properly. That means setting it up so it can be
>> turned off by the visitor, or better yet (best practice) left as an
>> element the visitor can activate or not, at the visitor's choice. The
>> problem, as I said before, is that a great many people who create and
>> maintain web sites don't, in fact, know what they're doing. They don't
>> even run their pages through HTML and CSS validators, much less make any
>> attempt to meet the W3C's accessibility guidelines. Either they don't know
>> or they don't care that badly formed code doesn't run optimally on
>> anyone's browser.
>>
>> As I said before, accessibility and its parent concept, usability are
>> essential elements of good web design. The problem is that far too few
>> people know what constitutes good web design let alone actually practice
>> it. It's not something that we as blind Internet users need, it's a
>> standard that simply is not striven for most of the time. Like you,
>> though, I don't know anyway to make people understand and implement the
>> concept. The W3C has no enforcement powers. All they can do is promulgate
>> standards and hope people pay attention to them. There's no way to make
>> people pay attention to them. All anyone can do, as you and I have both
>> pointed out, is to contact each web site as we come across it and politely
>> ask that they resolve their accessibility issues. Suggesting that the
>> webmaster or web team take a look at the W3C's standards and guidelines
>> would be a good idea as well. Spreading awareness of the W3C is always a
>> good thing.
>>
>> Kerry
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