"Reaction [beta]"
What's happening to web accessibility? 13 Apr 2007
An email we received yesterday from someone at Nomensa Ltd, Bristol:
"From: <name / email address removed>
Sent: 12 April 2007 09:42
Subject: Site
I do love your fixed width layout as well as your impossible to read footer text P3 issue I know but your accessibility page has a lovely image (yellow on white!!!) with is way under the required levels (that'll be a P2 issue), surly that's a bit stupid. Don't mean to be overly critical but god damn, I'm only trying to help you out! At least it's Valid though ;-) Have a nice day."
There's infighting at the W3C. WCAG2.0's in deep trouble. Experts are pronouncing forums like GAWDS, Accessifyforum and Accessites dead. And now we can add petty industry-backbiting to the list. What's happening to web accessibility? :'-(
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6 comments so far
James Box 13 Apr 2007 01:39 PM
Now come on chaps, you know you should be using a blockquote for that email extract ;-). Deary me. Apart from being utterly pathetic, what does the author of the email hope to achieve with this? Best ignored...
Michael 14 Apr 2007 11:15 AM
Take a look at the sites listed in the accessibility case studies section of Nomensa's site. Glass houses, stones, anybody?
matt 14 Apr 2007 02:22 PM
lol - this guy wasted his employers' time inspecting your whole site and was only able to pull you up on two minor technicalities. you should be proud ;)
Brian 15 Apr 2007 01:01 PM
They're bunch of monkey who don't know what courtesy is.
Léonie Watson 16 Apr 2007 02:59 PM
As Nomensa's Head of Accessibility, I would like to respond to this post. We are deeply shocked by the email you received and are taking the situation very seriously.
We are looking through all our email logs with great care and as yet have found no record of an email being sent from our servers, but we will of course continue to investigate. If we do find that someone from Nomensa was responsible for these comments the appropriate action will be taken.
The contents of this email are not in any way reflective of Nomensa's views and if this was sent from an employee of Nomensa I can only apologise to Etre on behalf of Nomensa.
Nomensa have always been committed to accessibility and usability. The team are dedicated to driving accessibility forwards on the Internet and also supporting the industry via our articles, papers and research which are provided freely to industry peers.
It would be a great shame for the comments above to affect the accessibility movement. We are all better than this and are all working towards the same goal.
If you require any further information or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me on 0117 929 7333 or lw@nomensa.com
Léonie Watson
Head of Accessibility
Simon 19 Apr 2007 10:52 AM
Léonie: Thanks for responding - your comments are greatly appreciated.