CCO goes down the tubes

Mon Mar 29 15:59:18 UTC 2004

At 6:58 AM -0800 3/29/04, Michel Py wrote:
>  > Maybe I'm the only one left who sees a need to be
>>  able to check on things from a vt100 at a remote site.
>
>You are not. A telnet version without all the fluffy bullshit would be
>more than welcome.
>

I suppose it's trivial in the grand scheme of things, but on a fairly 
small screen, I can'tget full access to the search without scrolling 
to the right. We wouldn't want to reduce the priority of advertising 
information display to the user who probably has already bought 
equipment and has a question about it, would we?

Perhaps a nastier effect is that the more eye candy, the harder it is 
to use disability access features. One of the incredibly positive 
social effects of the Internet is that it is inclusionary, not 
exclusionary.

The regrettable tendency of many enterprises to equate the Internet 
with the latest and greatest in Web technology leads to both economic 
and sensory exclusion.  Personally, I resent having to buy new 
hardware to run the new operating system that runs the new browser 
that runs the latest plugin, in order to see straightforward 
reference material [1]. In addition, the more visually intensive an 
interface metaphor, the more difficult it is to adapt it to magnified 
images, text-to-speech, or other things needed for people with visual 
disabilities. The more mouse/trackball/pointing device intensive, the 
more difficult it is to adapt to people with motor disabilities -- 
including the all-too-common repetitive stress injuries to hands.