ADA Compliency

[Curry Kenworthy]

Alex:

 > You are quoting yourself without adequate context.

Ah yes, I'm trying to keep what I said a big secret, right? :)

Quite the reverse - I was drawing attention to my original post, which 
is readily available in its entirety, which is typically what I suggest.

 > The fuller version of what you said was [...]

No, that's not quite the fuller version. Your quote still omits the most 
important context of all, which could easily mislead a hapless reader. 
That is, the context of its topic and main thrust, which you skirt.

My post was NOT primarily about my trouble with the mouse, or rather 
with Mac UI. It was about good and bad UI design and how these choices 
can have bigger consequences, plus the need to recognize a range of 
ability. Otherwise ADA or other compliance will fall short for many.

My hands/mouse versus Mac OS X UI was an EXAMPLE in that context. I use 
that example from time to time (this was not the first mention) because 
it had a fairly big impact on my life.

Luckily there was an alternative OS readily available to solve the 
problem, and - again, to a reasonable extent - that DID ALREADY SOLVE 
the problem. As I indicated in my first post, and emphasized in my 2nd.

That was more of a UI than a hardware problem, in my case, and in the 
very important "fuller context" of my post.

 > So I think your rather condescending attempted put-down was wrong.

Attempted put-down? Wow, this is going way off-course and into the realm 
of fantasy. No put-downs yet of individuals here, by my count! Simply 
laying that particular line of questioning to rest for the 2nd time 
(also by my count; this makes 3) and steering back to my point:

Ability is not all-or-nothing. We need to look at the middle too.
Otherwise even "compliance" will still fall short for many.
Good UI can help many people function better and bad UI can hinder them.

 > my wife has a neurological condition that is probably on the
 > same scale as yours

Sorry to hear that - feel free to send me her condition's name off-list 
if you wish.

 > A few years ago, HP had many laptops with a trackpad
 > *and* two buttons below it

I had one of those too! Liked the laptop, but using the trackpad that 
way was also no bueno for me. I think I actually started enabling the 
touch-click on those to avoid using the hardware buttons.

To steer back to my point again, and somewhat agreeing with you, that HP 
laptop was an example of good design for different abilities and 
situations. It had the trackpad (to use with hard buttons or software 
clicks) but of course also the ability to plug in a wide variety of mice 
and other pointers.

The same holds true with software UI. Don't ditch a great and 
"scientific" feature (Apple's words, or close to it, from memory) for a 
mere lickable trend. Or if you do, at least provide some options for 
users that prefer the scientific. Could we say...be user friendly? Think 
different? ;) But again, it's not just Apple.

(Man, the "compliency" spelling in the subject line - not mine - is 
starting to make me wince after sending out 3 messages that way. But I 
don't want to change it and break the threading. So here it goes....)

Best wishes,

Curry Kenworthy

Custom Software Development
"Better Methods, Better Results"
LiveCode Training and Consulting
http://livecodeconsulting.com/