Comments on: Social Networking – Ignoring Accessibility http://www.fogofeternity.com/2008/05/social-networking-ignoring-accessibility/ we make great websites Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:46:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Robin Cannon http://www.fogofeternity.com/2008/05/social-networking-ignoring-accessibility/comment-page-1/#comment-129 Robin Cannon Fri, 16 May 2008 13:33:03 +0000 http://www.fogofeternity.com/?p=78#comment-129 @Steve - Yeah, if it gets promoted as desirable for altruistic or moral reasons then it's never going to get anywhere. Accessibility needs to be promoted either by legal reasons (which I don't think applies to social networking) or business sense. The issues HeartnSoul are having don't surprise me at all. Curious (though haven't really delved deeply into it) as to whether any of the open source social networking software is easily configurable to be accessible/usable (e.g. the likes of Elgg). @Steve – Yeah, if it gets promoted as desirable for altruistic or moral reasons then it’s never going to get anywhere. Accessibility needs to be promoted either by legal reasons (which I don’t think applies to social networking) or business sense.

The issues HeartnSoul are having don’t surprise me at all. Curious (though haven’t really delved deeply into it) as to whether any of the open source social networking software is easily configurable to be accessible/usable (e.g. the likes of Elgg).

]]> By: Aurelius Tjin http://www.fogofeternity.com/2008/05/social-networking-ignoring-accessibility/comment-page-1/#comment-126 Aurelius Tjin Fri, 16 May 2008 05:18:42 +0000 http://www.fogofeternity.com/?p=78#comment-126 This is obviously one great post. The ideas and insights are very worth reading. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up! Aurelius Tjins last blog post..<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/UnstoppableMarketing/~3/230352501/im-an-internet-marketer" rel="nofollow">“I’m an Internet Marketer”</a> This is obviously one great post. The ideas and insights are very worth reading. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!

Aurelius Tjins last blog post..“I’m an Internet Marketer”

]]> By: Steve Dale http://www.fogofeternity.com/2008/05/social-networking-ignoring-accessibility/comment-page-1/#comment-121 Steve Dale Thu, 15 May 2008 20:55:37 +0000 http://www.fogofeternity.com/?p=78#comment-121 Highly relevant post. Have recently been in discussion with a charity called HeartnSoul who want to deliver a social networking site for people with learning difficulties. The idea is to connect these users with potential employers. Problem is the likes of Facebook etc are so far off the accessibility and usability mark that HeartnSoul are having to design from scratch. Having established a market presence and gained a critical mass of users, I'd like to see some of these commercial social networking organisations consider what they need to do to meet the needs of a more diverse audience. I don't think it has to be for altruistic or moral reasons - like you say - it makes good business sense to make your product accessible and usable to as wide an audience as possible. Highly relevant post. Have recently been in discussion with a charity called HeartnSoul who want to deliver a social networking site for people with learning difficulties. The idea is to connect these users with potential employers. Problem is the likes of Facebook etc are so far off the accessibility and usability mark that HeartnSoul are having to design from scratch. Having established a market presence and gained a critical mass of users, I’d like to see some of these commercial social networking organisations consider what they need to do to meet the needs of a more diverse audience. I don’t think it has to be for altruistic or moral reasons – like you say – it makes good business sense to make your product accessible and usable to as wide an audience as possible.

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