Many pages are starting to use pictures instead of words to direct readers. For the visually-impaired community, this is increasing our handicap. He estimates that roughly half of the Web sites in cyberspace are inaccessible to the disabled. Mike Burks, a technology professor who advises groups on how to make Web pages accessible to disabled people, says economic incentives exist for making Web sites more universally friendly. Web sites that offer text-only versions can be easier for the disabled and can load more quickly onto older computers.
Images can significantly slow down less powerful computers.
And because many people surf the Internet from their local libraries using a text-only Web browser called Lynx, they cannot even load images, Burks says. Meanwhile, Java Script, a computer language that helps Web designers make complex graphics and motion, is completely inaccessible and cannot be read by screen readers, Burks says. We want to access the Web site that everybody uses, but adapted for our use also. If you can keep it in the mainstream and help us adapt to that, that would be most beneficial. Reply to this article, click here .