Ideas on Tools for Alternative Web Browsing

Both Stephen Sullivan's, Accessibility for All, and the Alternative Web Browsing page, owned by the World Wide Web Consortium, give information on different ways people with disabilities can access the Internet or use computer programs. Sullivan includes federal laws and guidelines established for disabled persons, as well as his own Principles of Adaptive Technology. The Alternative Web Browsing page also includes a section for all people that disabled users have been able to use with adaptive devices. Although the Alternative Web Browsing page is now out-of-date and not actively maintained, it still had some useful information.
Sullivan cited three laws which make web accessibility required by law. They are: The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and The Telecommunications Act of 1996. He also provided the names of groups or guidelines that strive to improve web accessibility for disabled persons. Some of these include: The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG). The Alternative Web Browsing page mainly gave information on products that could be used to ease accessibility. JAWS and Window Eyes, which are both screen-reading software for the blind, were listed on both sites. For those with limited hand use, voice recognition software, such as Via Voice and The Voice, are available. The Screen Magnification Homepage or Screen Magnification Software can be used by those with low vision or learning disabilities. In addition, Sullivan's Principles of Adaptive Technology are common sense guidelines for identifying a need for adaptation and his ideas on how to solve some issues related to that. For example, Principle #4 states, "When the performance is currently at acceptable levels, leave it alone," or Principle #5 says, "Adaptive software is only the tool, accessing the resources of the computer is still the task." Some of the links on the Alternative Web Browsing page don't work, and some do. Both articles would be helpful for those looking at alternative web browsing.