Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:33 am
IMO opinion this isn't the case.malcolmboston wrote:BBC offers a text-only service which was obviously built for accessibility issues and internet speed problems.
however BBC is the exception to this case, many sites are now built from PSD's, a99% of sites that does this will not work properly for braille and text-only services.
Just becuase a web page is text only doesn't mean it is accessible.
I quote from W3.org "Text-only pages should not be necessary to ensure accessibility of Web pages that follow the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines," except in very rare cases. In fact, text-only pages are frequently counterproductive to accessibility since they tend to be kept less up-to-date than "primary pages," or in some cases leave out information that is on primary pages.
Many sites that have made a commitment to accessibility in the past have used text-only pages as a solution; however, it should be unnecessary in almost all cases, or even inadvisable, to set up and maintain a separate set of text-only pages."
It is now a requirement in law for commercial site to adhere to certain accessibilty rules...especially if the site is offering jobs in any kind of form becuase this can be contrude as discrimination.
I agree that most of the time it is a pain in the ass, but it is an issue that you shouldn't overlook.
read this for more info on legislation - http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/#UK