fawny.org

Not watching the Olympics

A subscriber on the BlindCanadians mailing list (identity withheld, though it’s hardly a state secret) writes:

Has anyone tried to access [usage as a verb sicEd.] the CBC’s Web site on the Olympics? I keep entering on buttons, and not getting anything I’m looking for.

I’m disappointed that none of the boxing or wrestling bouts, or the field-hockey matches involving Canada, have been covered.

What’s even more frustrating, though, is that every time I try to access some of the information, I keep hearing stuff like what the current weather is in Beijing. I’ve tried to E-mail comments, but every time I enter on the link, guess what I get instead of the E-mail field? Yep, the current Beijing weather. I sure as heck hope that their coverage of the Paralympics is more accessible.

Paging Blake Crosby. I surmise the root cause is the simple fact that not a single working Web developer in the country has any understanding of the Flash accessibility requirements. Nobody anywhere does, save for Niqui Merret, now issuing an all-hands call. (I met her once or twice.)

Plus CBC Olympix is an overly complex interface with dynamically-generated menus. The On-Demand Video page is almost valid HTML, but completely unusable unless you have exactly the right equipment and functioning body parts CBC expects you to have. This is what happens when you build good bones (HTML) and juice muscles with steroids (Flash).

Of course the site isn’t going to be accessible. It’s built not to be.