[musictlk] Inaccessible online contact forms and Websites

Mon Feb 21 23:21:13 UTC 2011

You could also try http://textcaptcha.com
That allows you to put a logic question on your website, in place of numbers 
and letters, or audio.

-Michael.

AI5HF

http://mtgames.org/
http://u4u.be/
http://michael-taboada.org/
http://AI5HF.org/
http://the-status.net/ and http://the-stat.us/

Skype: lilmike2
Gmail: ai5hf.lilmike at gmail.com
msn: ai5hf at hotmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MWTab

PC details:
Intel quad core 2.66 ghz; 4 gb duel channel ddr2 ram; 1 TB harddrive.

"The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living." -- Christopher 
Paolini, Eldest.
"A world that contained a creature as amazing as that bumblebee was a world 
he wanted to live in." -- Christopher Paolini, Brisingr.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Joshua Lester" <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:42 PM
To: "NFBnet Music Talk Mailing List" <musictlk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [musictlk] Inaccessible online contact forms and Websites

> 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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>>
>>
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