[TYPO3] Accessibility: Typo3 vs other CMS

[Christopher Torgalson]

On 3/29/07, Tyler Kraft <headhunterxiii at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> 'ello Christopher
>
> (No I don't ever sleep which is why, before you ask I'm up at 6am and
> emailing and listening to NIN)

I see that.


> True, but in the UK its about accessibility and usability. Organisations
> like the RNIB and such have a big impact here on the web that it is
> important that the BE is accessible as well as the FE.  And I have no
> doubt that it would be hard to implement but the simple fact is that the
> UK, the US and most of the world will sooner or later require it to be
> accessible.


It is here (Canada) too. Not as much, but growing all the time. I was
trying to make the point that even though this is an important
subject, it has so far completely failed to catch fire in the one
place I'd have had the highest hopes for: the HCI group.

In the HCI list, responses to threads or posts about accessibility
generally fall into one of the following forms:

-- that's not important (it IS important...)
-- that IS important, but it's too hard to do so don't talk about it
(it's not insurmountably difficult)
-- that would interfere with many nifty ajaxifications (it needn't)
-- it's too difficult, so we should make an alternate, accessible BE
(a little patronizing to those who NEED accessibility, IMO, but this
may be the best option at the moment)
-- why don't YOU do it if it's so important (as if rewriting the BE in
an accessible way could be done without the wholehearted participation
of the core group)

I hate to say it, but I think it may take some of the bigger TYPO3
agencies losing a few plum government contracts for the issue to gain
any traction. As things stand, if a client comes to me with a need for
a CMS that is or can easily be made reasonably accessible throughout,
TYPO3 wouldn't even make the list--and this is the /only/ circumstance
where I would eliminate TYPO3 at the beginning of a CMS implemntation
job.


-- 
Christopher Torgalson
http://www.typo3apprentice.com/