How not to practice what one preaches

[codeman38]

Found via several people on Twitter:

http://www.urbaccess.fr/

This... really should speak for itself.

Hope they don't expect any blind accessibility professionals to attend...


[If they change the site design at some later point: the entire navigation bar consisted of an un-ALT-tagged image map at the time I posted this. The conference information page is also an un-ALT-tagged image.]

Comments

Semirelatedly, I was wondering about another site

[pauamma]

I stumbled on http://www.jaccede.com/ a few days ago (they're looking for volunteers to take part to an awareness-raising event checking (physical, I think) accessibility of various spots in Paris, and I saw a poster advertising the event).

Because I'm cynical, I'm wondering how accessible their site is. If the answer is "not very" (as I suspect), I might volunteer and put that as my "area I'm interested in" answer. :-)

Re: Semirelatedly, I was wondering about another site

[codeman38]

Hm. There are probably little nitpicks that I'm overlooking, but at least from a quick "turn style sheets and images off" test, Jaccede actually looks surprisingly accessible at first glance.

[gramina]

When I went to look at the source for their front page, "search" did not find the string "alt" in the page source.

I don't know if it will do any good, but I did track down their e-mail address (urbaccess@handirect.fr) and sent them the following:

---

Sujet: l’Accessibilité et http://www.urbaccess.fr/

Mes amis m'ont dit que l'emplacement n'a pas eu le texte alternatif pour les utilisateurs d'emplacement qui sont malvoyants.

Quand je suis allé « regarder la source, » je ne pourrais trouver aucun texte d'alt. (Le texte d'alt est un texte qui peut être lu si une image graphique n'est pas visualisable.)

Pourquoi est-ce qu'une conférence professionnelle sur des questions de l'accessibilité a un site Web qui n'est pas accessible ?

Veuillez excuser mon français; J'ai étudié la langue française dans l'école secondaire en 1980. J'espère que ce que j'ai écrit est compréhensible, même si il est non grammatical.

Merci de votre patience et de votre attention.

Sincèrement,

---

My intention is that that should say,

---

Subject: Accessibility and http://www.urbaccess.fr/

My friends have told me that the site does not have alt text for site users who are visually impaired.

When I went to "View Source," I coudln't find any alt text. (Alt text is a text that may be read if a graphic image isn't viewable.)

Why does a professional conference on questions of accessibility have a web site that is not accessible?

Please excuse my French; I studied the French language in secondary school in 1980. I hope that what I have written is comprehensible, even if it is ungrammatical.

Thank you for your patience and your attention.

Sincerely,

---

I'm pretty sure it's a long way from perfect, probably on several fronts, but at least it will let them know that it's been noticed even outside France.

[attie]

Actually, "(web)site" is "le site" in French, "emplacement" would be "location". Other than that your text is very good!

Also, maybe it would be a good idea to mention that all the practical info (what, where, when, how to get there, contact # and e-mail) are HIDDEN INSIDE A GODDAMN IMAGE AND DO NOT APPEAR ANYWHERE IN THE PAGE TEXT. Because Jesus, who the fuck does that.

Oh, and you can CC the mail to the company who developed it at contact@octavecrea.com

[attie]

Since I speak French well, here's a more detailed letter:

Bonjour,

j'ai été dirigé vers votre site "urbacces.fr" par des amis concernés par l'accessibilité.

Je voudrais vous faire remarquer que ce site est totalement inaccessible pour des personnes malvoyantes et des personnes qui ne peuvent pas voir/afficher les images pour d'autres raisons. En effet, tous les contenus du site, ainsi que la navigation, sont contenus dans des images, et aucune description des images n'est fournie dans le code source du site. Il est d'usage de répéter les informations contenues dans l'image dans l'attribut "alt" de la balise. Le texte est alors affiché quand l'image ne peut pas l'être.

En particulier je voudrais vous faire remarquer que toutes les informations pratiques sur la conférence (date, lieu, adresse de contact) sont uniquement donnés sous forme d'une image, et que des personnes malvoyantes sont ainsi exclus de la conférence car ils ne peuvent même pas savoir quand et où elle a lieu.

Cordialement,

Roughly, in English:

Good day,

I have been linked to your website "urbacces.fr" by friends concerned with accessibility.

I would like to let you know that your website is totally inaccessible for sight impaired people and people who cannot see/show images for other reasons. Indeed, all the content of your website, and the navigation elements, are contained in images, and no description of these images is given in the source code of the website. It is considered good practice to repeat information contained in an image in the "alt" attribute of the image tag. That way, the text can be shown when the image cannot be.

I would especially like to draw your attention to the fact that all the practical information about the conference (time, location, contact address) are only given in the form of an image, and sight impaired people are thus excluded from the conference since they cannot even know when and where it takes place.

Sincerely,

Please let me know if there's anything I should change!

[pauamma]

While cleaning up old comment emails today, I reread this, and I'm wondering whether you ever got an answer. (I also tried to check the site again and the root page 403s. The Wayback Machine doesn't have any copies either.)

[attie]

No, I didn't hear from them...

[pauamma]

I was coming back here to offer to help translate complaints and answers. (Native speaker.)

[deborah]

I have ceased to be surprised at how many "accessibility experts" think that there aren't any accessibility experts with disabilities, so there's no point in catering to them.

[codeman38]

Reminds me of the similar thing I've seen where 'autism experts' don't consider actual autistic people to even possibly have any expertise on autism. Despite, y'know, having lived with it for life, and all that...

[pauamma]

Which reminbded me of a rant I meant to write.