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Limerick RSF website inaccessible to the disabled

Republican Sinn Féin have broken one of the most obvious rules when it comes to making information accessible to the disabled online.

Large chunks of text on the website, including what might be important information on the party’s political objectives, and election manifesto, are in JPEG format rather than text. Screenreaders used by the visually impaired, for example, are unable to read JPEG files.

Even if they could, any speech software would be drowned out by the background music on their election campaign page.

The use of JPEGs rather than text also slows down page loading, and eats into the download allowance of people on lower cost internet products. It also takes much longer for those viewing the site on dial-up connections longer to view the pages.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 7:13 pm and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • You might be surprised to realize some people have a level of knowledge and interest which goes deeper than using retarded text speak.
  • demented
    Is calling someone a retard less offensive than being labeled a muppet ? Espiecally taking into account the post is referring to disabilities, wierd censorship here!

  • DJ
    @Limerick2: If those "geeks" as you so maturely refer to them, didn't care about what format a site was in, then you wouldn't be using the internet at all you dope. If you're not interested in it, then don't read or comment on it. You might be surprised to realise some people have a level of knowledge and interest which goes deeper than using retarded txt speak (which is really just shorthand for retards)
  • limerick2
    geek
  • John
    Every good site needs a troll....
  • limerick2
    who are u? and wtf are you talking about?
  • John
    My name is John.
    Is Limerick2 your first or second name?

    Which of the bridges do you live near?
  • limerick2
    what a strange man..pmsl. i bet u own a trench coat. and wear it in the park on sunny days
  • Roisin
    Interesting that in a thread ostensibly dealing with facilitating the disabled, a poster calls another one a 'retard' without any censure from the administrator. Could it ever possibly be that the thread was really not about facilitating the disabled at all but rather about Squid wanting people to check out the Republican Sinn Fein website?
  • geezer
    its not shorthand for retards, its a habit that comes about from using mobile text. MAybe its bad email 'etiquet' but its hardly the worst exapmle of it. TRy lookin at Bebo to see some really annoying text/spelling etc.

  • jonijoe
    Keep up the good work squid,never mind the begrudgers.
  • asdas
    omigod who cares?
  • pat
    Squid, Keep up the good fight.
  • squidlimerick
    For the record, the actions of political parties online being at odds with what they say in the "real world" has been highlighted before , and is not just a trait of RSF.

    Fine Gael hiring Russian freelancers to develop their site, along with Fianna Fail hiring an american company to do theirs, all the while Irish companies are going under.
  • sham
    thanks fair and balanced just like fox news
  • sham
    thanks fair and balanced
  • boshgo
    oh really? i always knew rsf would be just the type to discriminate against he disabled, and finally theyve been busted, thanks to the ever vigilant limerickblogger! Great work guys. Its about time those guys were exposed!
  • limerick2
    sorry,,,,,,,,,, but why do we need to know about this, and what makes u think people are interesred in wat text format is used on a web page.. except geeks
  • squidlimerick
    It is spelt "you" and "what."

    And if what you say is true, then get off my Internet.
  • limerick2
    lol, squid owns the internet.. you must be a zillionaire
  • Roisin
    Squid, for the love of Jesus, please tell me you are joking, You have recently provided a platform for these people to justify cold blooded murder and you take them to task for making information inaccessible to the disabled!
  • geezer
    justify cold bloodd murder? hoew is outlining a political manifesto justifying cold blooded murder?
  • Roisin
    Take a gander at Squid's post from 14 April 09 headed 'Easter Commemorations held in Limerick'.
  • squidlimerick
    Yes, because they claim to represent groups including the disabled.
  • ehh, you do know the RSS feed for your own site has been down for over 3 weeks..accessibility issue of your own there.
  • squidlimerick
    A broken RSS feed is a technical issue, not an accessibility one. one which I am assured is being looked into since it was brought to my attention a few days ago.
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