Hi Chris, Nice point about contacting third party vendors whose apps are accessible. Even if it wasn't a deliberate effort on their part, it raises awareness, and lets them know that their product being accessible did matter. Best, Donna
-----Original Message----- From: Chris Hofstader <c...@hofstader.com> Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 6:56 AM To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Universal design Hi, I couldn't agree with you more as regards Apple and its efforts toward universal access. I understand the feeling you must have when the kid went off to school with a new talking iPod as, when I worked at HJ/FS, i was well aware that every new copy of JAWS that went out the door probably meant that someone got a job, is starting in college or furthering their scholastic life with a good tool. This was pounded into our heads by Ted Henter to whom every customer was special. Things became less satisfying in the FS days as, when Ted was in charge, he would virtually shut down the software engineering department until we fixed a bug or two for a single customer who had trouble doing his job. Now it's all about monthly/quarterly revenue figures than about the end user. It's sad but I neither own the company nor do I work there anymore. As regards other companies who make somewhat accessible items, the community should reward them in proportion to the number of features we can use versus those we cannot. If a product is 25% accessible for people with vision impairment, then we should give them a 25% pat on the back while handing them a list of the 75% of the features that they need to improve. Often, especially on iPhone and Windows Mobile, a program will be accessible, at least in part, because the API gives a lot of automatic accessibility so some of the software out there will b usable by default. I think the authors of such software should be contacted and applauded even if they didn't know they made an accessible application as it may help convince them to work with the community in the future to ensure their accessibility continues. Some companies or groups within a company are virtually hostile to our requests for accessibility. I have found that the entire product line from Intuit works very poorly with any and all screen readers but no matter how many emails and phone calls later, they refuse to give the screen reader authors even the tiniest crumb. Intuit and companies like it may require the stick as all of the carrots we've supplied were spit back out. cdh On Aug 13, 2009, at 12:07 PM, patrickneazer wrote: Hello Chris and all: Yes, I am a fan of more carrots and less stick if possible. Sticks are easy to make though I do not know anyone who enjoys being hit by one no matter how worthy or just the cause (grin). The best way to accomplish what is desired is to reward apple for their innovation with both financial and public support. As a trainer there is nothing cooler than showing a parent a talking ipod, having them purchase one for their child, having the child take it to school and the child being queen or king for the day and possibly longer (grin). That is priceless and customer loyalty will be established forever (grin). And just think, people thought it just played music (grin). On Aug 13, 2009, at 10:01 AM, Chris Blouch wrote: It would also be nice, albeit unmeasurable, that Apple would be rewarded for implementing universal design. I could then point to it as an example of what happens when a company does things right. I have lots of examples of when companies do things wrong (Target, PriceLine, Ramada and recently CVS). I'd like more carrot and less stick when I do presentations to developers or at conferences. CB Chris Hofstader wrote: Hello Chris the Other, I agree with your thoughts on universal design. Six or seven years ago we found that a lot of rehab counselors were downloading daily content from audible.com and listening on a PAC Mate as they went from client to client in their cars. this, I suppose, was a bit of accidental universal design --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
