[UK] What a load of ****

[meglamaniac]

Website owners face prosecution

Thanks to some daft new law, it is now a legal requirement for UK sites to be easy for disable people to view.
Not just companies.

ALL websites, including any site run by an individual.

So that page you knocked up in 5 minutes yesterday so your mate could download some photos is now illegal because it doesn't include ALT tags which would enable blind people to view it using a text to speach synthesiser.

I've nothing against forcing companies to make thier sites accessable, but placing legal obligations on all sites (so your 12 year old kid could be conducting illegal activities by making his first website) is just ludicrous.
Well fk it, I have no intentions of making any changes to my stuff. However, I expect we'll see RNIB making some high profile prosecutions shortly.

Twats.

[Cmdr_Cyrax]

For large corporations maybe, but surely not for every single one?
Thats ****ing stupid.

[Leshy]

Excellent

[Jammers]

Interesting fact: RNIB has the same number of letters as RIAA, and they both begin with the letter R, and they are both attempting to seize control of the internet. They also both contain the letter I.
Coincidence? I think not.

sucked in bitches

[cnaw]

Originally posted by meglamaniac
Website owners face prosecution

what kind of name is Mark Smith?

He's got the kind of face that would look perfect in a Troma film.



(being smashed in, or blow up, or riped off or dunked in acid or cut by razors, or lit on fire, or inflated by a high psi compressor, or hit by a high power laser, or eaten by hungy hungy hippos, or used as a football....)

[poshphil]

I dont know, people from Peterborough

[Bloomers III]

silly cripples, get your own internet

[2045]

Couldn't you just host your site on a foreign server?

[mbushell]

possibly sli, but the trick is to add ALT tags such as 'large penis' and stuff, when the reader things reads it, it'll be lol

[Tseia]

The standards-compliant XHTML and CSS design brigade have been saying this for years...

I consider myself on the fringe of that group, but this is still stupid.

[Vaio]

Do blind people have to wear headphones when they go searching for pr0n ?

Vaio

[Leshy]

Originally posted by Tseia
The standards-compliant XHTML and CSS design brigade have been saying this for years...

I consider myself on the fringe of that group, but this is still stupid.

Well, I doubt people will actually be getting sued for having a non-compliant website, but bringing it in the news does at least point some attention into the direction of the importance of valid XHTML/CSS standards.

[Tseia]

Think anyone'll take any notice?

[Dace]

Originally posted by Bloomers III
silly cripples, get your own internet

[Dace]

When we find a site for a well known tourist attraction in Norfolk there are graphics and pop-up windows.

Mark Smith says sites can be confusing

"It can be quite confusing," he said.



This kind of stuff makes me laugh.

[Luckeh!!!!]

LOL at this, so depressing, don't people have anything better to do? :/

[Slidey]

will it matter if the blind have alt tags or not?

THEY'RE BLIND!!

THEY WONT BE ABLE TO READ THE STUFF IN THE ALT TAGS ANYWAY1!

[queball]

If you don't think it's worth the cost then leave your site like it is. It's not regulation, it's compensation.

[Leshy]

Originally posted by Slidey
will it matter if the blind have alt tags or not?

You, sir, are clueless.

Of course they will not be able to read the Alt tags themselves, but their screen reader software will. If an image shows up in some text, without the alt tag, the image reader will probably just say "Image", whereas with an Alt tag it would, for example, say "Image of Shell Company Logo", allowing them to visualise what the page looks like.

[Snurx]

Stupid. Really stupid. I mean, it should be encouraged to do it, but enforced? Your goverment suck dudes

Oh, and how can they visualize how the shell logo looks if they're blind? Or, how the page looks, if they don't know what the things on the page look like anyways?

[Leshy]

Originally posted by Snurx
Oh, and how can they visualize how the shell logo looks if they're blind?

Not everyone using a screen reader is completely blind, some are simply visually impaired up to a degree where they can no longer read the screen. In addition, not everyone who is blind has been so all of their life. And even when they are blind and don't know what the shell logo looks like, at least they will be able to have someone describe it to them if they want to know.

In addition, with the simple fact that they know the image is a company logo, they know they're not missing any crucial information. If an image acts as a link, for example, it would be handy for them to know what the image displays to get an idea of where the image is taking them.

"Image linking to extra/compinf.html" vs "Image of Company Information, linking to extra/compinf.html" etc.

[W]

Another reason to disrespect the law.

[Snurx]

Originally posted by W
Another reason to disrespect the law.

A law that you uphold?
(Arent you like a military ninja or somesuch crazy thing?)


Leshy, all that is true. So i guess the only thing left to hate is the fact that the goverment says you MUST do it, instead of you SHOULD do it.

[huh]

Originally posted by Bloomers III
silly cripples, get your own internet

[NibNub]

...blahblahblah.... inclusivity policy... blahblahblah....

Same reason we shred 3000+ JobCentre leaflets translated into Nepalese every year.

[Leshy]

Originally posted by Snurx
Leshy, all that is true. So i guess the only thing left to hate is the fact that the goverment says you MUST do it, instead of you SHOULD do it.

And when was the last time people did what the government said they should do?

[roadrunner_0]

depending on the website, using software such as supernova can make browsing the web easy, even for totally blind ppl, but complex websites make the software freak, it simply cannot handle the graphics.
all private individuals will have to do, is make their sites bobby compliant, to the lowest level, which a lot of sites already do, there is fk all you can do about the pop up problems with the current level of specialist software though, although i expect dolphin (the makers of supernova) to start making it available with some kind of customisable browser that will enable you to stop pop ups etc soon.
(oh, and to be lowest level bobby compliant, all you have to do is put the alt tags on your pictures, which isnt really that hard is it?)

[JonnyBGood]

Originally posted by meglamaniac
I've nothing against forcing companies to make thier sites accessable

I do. Governments don't even listen to common sense never mind reason though.

[poshphil]

I wonder if all the individual MP's sites are compliant with this?


Even better, I wonder if the downing street website is??

[roadrunner_0]

they only have to be lowest level bobby compliant, so yes, i would assume that they are