[Vision2020] RE: HTML Formatting and the Blind

Fri Nov 11 09:08:06 PST 2005

Donovan,

I can only repeat what Rose recently said, but a little differently.  If you 
continue to make asinine assertions about matters where ignorance is your 
chief qualification, then what little credibility you have left will be 
eviscerated.

Most email processors can be set to translate HTML emails into plaintext 
before the reader even views them.  The effect is that the email appears as 
a plaintext document and can be processed by most text to voice programs as 
such.  If the blind and visually disabled are having problems with HTML 
email with their particular programs, they need to switch to translators 
that work with them.  Such programs do exist and are widely available.

For example, the blind, contrary to your assertion, can surf the web with 
several different popular browsers when certain add-ins are used.  Perhaps 
you don't understand, but all websites are written in a language which needs 
to be translated.  Most primarily use HTML and/or its many variants.  Some 
are now completely written in XML.  Websites are not written in plaintext.

You may test the truth of this yourself using Microsoft Internet Explorer 
for example:

1.    Go to any website.
2.    Place the cursor somewhere on a webpage but not on a graphic.
3.    Right click.
4.    From the menu that appears, choose and click on View Source.
5.    Contemplate what you see.
6.    Tell us what you see and what you think it means.

You say:

"I just learned today..."

Perhaps you need better and more sources.  Perhaps, Janesta and/or someone 
who works with the disabled can provide more information about where to 
acquire general text to voice programs that work with HTML.

Although many V 2020ers may have placed you on their Bozo Filter, I haven't, 
because occasionally you make some well thought out and cogent observations. 
The number of these now is few and far between.  You appear to be guided in 
discussions  by high school debate tactics where the goal is to win points 
based on some forensic scoring system, rather than exploring an issue.  This 
is a common practice among those you are an apologist for.  It is a very 
common practice among the CCC apologists, for example, Dale Courtney, 
Douglas Wilson, Thomas Garfield, Roy Atwood. etc.

If you want to be taken as a credible voice, perhaps you should look before 
you leap.

I expect your response to this post will be to ignore the facts presented 
and to spew more irrelevant abuse or make up more information.  You should 
think carefully about this.  If you do not change this kind of behavior, you 
will likely not be encouraged to help any more local political candidates. 
Peg Hamlet has just learned a lesson in this regard, just as Linda Pike did.

It is very unlikely this post will have any effect on your behavior patterns 
because of the post's author.  Perhaps you ask someone you trust and who is 
a normal person to be brutally frank with you on this issue.

Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donovan Arnold" <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
To: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at adelphia.net>; "'Chasuk'" <chasuk at gmail.com>; 
"'Vision 2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 1:41 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] RE: HTML Formatting and the Blind

>I just learned today, that when a person writes in
> those large awkward fonts, even just italics, programs
> that read text for the blind and visually impaired
> cannot read them. So just another reason to avoid
> HTML, be inclusive.
>
> --DJA
>
>
>
> --- Saundra Lund <sslund at adelphia.net> wrote:
>
>> Chas wrote:
>> "I, myself, hate HTML formatting in e-mail.  I don't
>> want enlarged fonts,
>> images, color, or anything but plain text.  Am I a
>> curmudgeon, or do others
>> agree with me?"
>>
>> Well, I don't hate HTML, I just won't use it due to
>> security concerns  :-)
>> I don't mind "reading" messages in HTML format from
>> people I know, but I
>> won't take the risks for just anyone  ;-)
>>
>> Also, I've been around long enough to clearly
>> remember the complaints from
>> people using dial-up -- HTML messages are larger &
>> therefore take longer to
>> receive, which I suppose was more of a hardship back
>> when most folks paid
>> for their online time based on use rather than on
>> unlimited connection time.
>> I still hear folks complaining about the time it
>> takes to download HTML
>> messages, though.
>>
>> But, I'll take the opportunity to piggy-back on your
>> poll  :-)  After a
>> series of unscientific studies, I've determined that
>> after posting to V2020,
>> I get absolutely inundated with virus attempts, and
>> I'm wondering if anyone
>> else experiences this?
>>
>> The good news (for me, anyway) is that my computer
>> is very secure, so the
>> attempts fail  :-)  However, it is annoying, and it
>> could be a major problem
>> for those who don't practice safe computing.  If
>> others have experienced
>> this, I wonder if that might contribute to the lack
>> of participation on
>> V2020 by more community members.
>>
>>
>> Saundra Lund
>> Moscow, ID
>>
>> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is
>> for good people to do
>> nothing.
>> Edmund Burke
>>
>> ***** Original material contained herein is
>> Copyright 2005, Saundra Lund.
>> Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
>> the Vision 2020 forum
>> without the express written permission of the
>> author.*****
>>
>>
>>
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