Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:33:41 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Steven Champeon <schampeo () hesketh com> Date: August 27, 2008 3:24:27 PM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only For IP, if you wish. on Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 05:33:05PM -0400, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: "David Lesher" <wb8foz () panix com> Date: August 26, 2008 4:08:01 PM EDT To: dave () farber net (David Farber) Subject: Democratic Convention is Microsoft-onlyIf you go to the demconvention.com site and want to see the video beingstreamed, you are told: For the best Democratic Convention video experience, you'll need the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in and the Move Networks media player.
If you view source on the home page, you'll also see that the site was created using silverstripe, an open source CMS project led by *gasp* a guy from New Zealand, who is obviously (based on the gushing copy on his company's home page at silverstripe.com) quite pleased to be involved in the project. I have it on authority from friends in Wellington that he did the work for free, for the marketing value, which may explain some of the minor errors - comp work is always subject to time and other pressures, and the beauty of the CMS is that others can come in and mess with what was beautiful, valid markup to their heart's content. Sadly, the demconvention.com site doesn't validate, showing basic and fundamental errors (multiple title tags, for starters; many accessibility issues, ancient conventions mixed with modern, the use of 'javascript:;' hrefs rather than proper event handler attributes, etc.) Web geeks with an ax to grind could have a field day. It's probable that the fault lies with the users of the tools, and not the tools themselves, given that Mr. Magnusson is an ardent defender of the principles of Web standards, but still. http://www.htmlhelp.com/cgi-bin/validate.cgi?url=http://www.demconvention.com/ I've been to New Zealand as a speaker at a Web industry conference, webstock, for which Mr. Magnusson served as a board member, and it's a beautiful country full of Web developers who are passionate about Web standards as a means to universal accessibility. Thus, it's odd that the site isn't more accessible. I visited the video launcher in Safari (3.1.2/4525.22) on Tiger and got this annoyingly incorrect error message: "We're sorry, but the Democratic Convention video web site isn't compatible with your operating system and/or browser. Please try again on a computer with the following: Compatible operating systems: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or a Mac with Tiger (OS 10.4) or Leopard (OS 10.5). Compatible browsers: Internet Explorer (version 6 or later), Firefox (version 2), or, if you are on a Mac, Safari (version 3.1) also works." No sin in relying on inadequate tools, the site is probably better than the vast majority, but it still rankles. Especially in light of the press release announcing its existence (April 10, 2007): http://www.demconvention.com/democratic-national-convention-committee-unveils-2008-democratic-convention-website/ "The 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver will be a first-rate convention that utilizes cutting-edge technology to engage and involve Democrats across the country who may not be able to attend in person but still want to be part of the convention. The web site will be a place to keep Americans informed of all the latest convention news and will be updated daily as the convention nears," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "The convention will showcase the Democratic Party's vision for America, along with the values the party shares with all Americans, and put our presidential nominee on the path to victory for the 2008 election." Criticizing Web sites is sadly easy; criticizing those who make them even easier; criticizing those who pay for them for their technical flaws is a fool's game that ignores the gulf between those who pay and those who produce in terms of their technical skill (or lack thereof). But that having been said, you'd think somebody might have thought to make *some* effort to include the >10% of the viewing public, especially given that it seems likely that a core audience for the Democrats is probably running Macs, or, just as bad from an accessibility standpoint, older PCs. To say nothing of others with more specific accessibility issues. If anything, it's likely that the DNC wanted to impress with high quality video, rather than a more accessible version, and as a result contradicted their inclusive principles in favor of glitz. http://www.demconvention.com/the-2008-democratic-national-convention-the-most-technologically-savvy-event-of-its-kind/ I guess I'll just have to rely on the transcripts. Steve -- hesketh.com/inc. v: +1(919)834-2552 f: +1(919)747-9073 w: http://hesketh.com/ antispam news, solutions for sendmail, exim, postfix: http://enemieslist.com/ ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only David Farber (Aug 26)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only David Farber (Aug 26)
- Re: Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only David Farber (Aug 26)
- Re: Democratic Convention is Microsoft-only David Farber (Aug 27)