Is it acceptable to promote the use of the mobile views for accessibility?

Question

On a current project I am working on we are suggesting that the mobile access (via /m) provides users with access to the system that due to the simple rendering should support screen readers and accessibility devices.

 

Is this acceptable?    Is this a valid place to look at the provision of an accessible entry into MOSS/WSS?

 

Andrew

Answer 1

Have you actually tried using the /m view? Try using it exclusively for a while and see how useful you find it. Really, give it a shot. It's especially fun starting at the MOSS homepage.

In my opinion, the mobile view is useless.

Answer 2

Kevin,

 

Since posting this I have tested the mobile views and have to agree with you that they are 'useless'.

 

Which still leaves us with the same issues regarding accessibility.  

Answer 3

Even though this is a rather old thread I thought I should chip in with this comment.

Regardless of the quality of the "mobile" version of the content (and as pointed out above the quality is very poor) it's the wrong approach anyway. Similarly to providing a "text only" version, by providing an inferior version in order to facilitate accessibility you're doing most users a disservice.

Say for example you are relying on keyboard access (i.e. no mouse) - which MOSS nearly supports but doesn't quite manage properly - you have to use the "accessible" version and suddenly you have no graphics, no layout, truncated content, etc. It's far better to fix the "full" version (although that's by no means a trivial task!).

For more details see http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_textbasedwebsites.hcsp