text-only version? how-to

[essexboyracer]

Hi All,

Does anyone know how to have a link on every page for a text only version of cmsms? or is this the point of having different media types for CSS stylesheets?

[Pierre M.]

Hello,

what do you mean by "text only" ? CMSms is not sounds and videos everywhere
Yes, why not CSS. Browse a site with Firefox and go to view, style, no style at all. This should bring up a "text only" view of the site.

Pierre M.

[essexboyracer]

Sorry Pierre, I didnt explain myself properly, I was thinking along the lines of accessibility issues. For example something that the BBC do here in England is provide a link on every page for a style/image stripped 'Text Only' version of every page. They run the page through their own sourceforge developed cgi parser called betsie.

For example http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/ top left just under the date.

The purpose is to allow those with vision problems and / or screenreaders a chance to see the page.

[Pierre M.]

So accessibility. Right. Here is my opinion :

-have a valid well formed site. for both xHTML and CSS. So assistance software (aural readers, zooms, color/contrast changing "proxies") can easyly parse it. This includes providing alt="text" attributes to tags.

-use CSS to the extend it allows. For example, provide an "aural only" style sheet with display:none on visual elements.

-don't use malware such as Javascript, popups, flash... of course no frames either.

-avoid multicolumns.

-for braille readers, rethink navigation to "shorten" links from "site wide" to "paragraph start/end".

-beware the WAI specification is not always good because it tries to resolve all cases at once.

-get other opinions from googling

Pierre M.

[digitalmouse]

Yes, why not CSS. Browse a site with Firefox and go to view, style, no style at all. This should bring up a "text only" view of the site.

Because not everyone is using Firefox, unfortunately.

A module that auto feeds a no-graphics template, giving you a true 'menu first, content second' layout would be great for mobile phones, and palm/pocket computers, as well as speech-only browsers.

i do agree that a properly made CSS should give the same accessibility, yet we still do not have a consensus as to how everyone should apply those methods.  but until that holy grail arrives, a means to 'strip-out' graphics and styles, or better yet, a means to switch all content over to a plain HTML 'top-down' template would be very useful.  I have an eye-doctor client looking to make his website accessible in this way.

[Pierre M.]

Some of my strong opinion again

If mobile phones / WAP gateways / iMode things etc are what you care about (and not accessibility) then provide an alternative stylesheet on a reverse proxie on the mobile gateway.

Pierre M.