More GMail problems

I didn’t get selected as a GMail beta tester (like I had time to kick around a new product that we didn’t write looking for flaws). At this point, I guess I’m kinda glad I didn’t.

Mark Pilgrim recently blogged about how GMail actively discriminates against the blind.

I have to admit that the part I found most disturbing was this quote:

So the target market for Gmail appears to be vi users who use Internet Explorer, and have a working pair of eyes.

This is disturbing to me because I hate vi. That anyone would intentionally create an interface that emulates vi is just repulsive to me personally.

There is one part that I do take exception to:

The only way Gmail could be less accessible is if the entire site were built in Flash.

If you know anything about Whizardries, then you know that we’re a Macromedia shop. We haven’t yet jumped into the “Total Flash Experience” and done websites ONLY in Flash, but even I (poor Flash programmer that I try to be sometimes) can (even if I don’t for ancillary content like the logo with flying star on all of our pages) make Flash movies accessible. Macromedia even provides information for the Flash programmer to make Flash content completely Section 508 compliant.

Perhaps he meant that “the only way Gmail could be less accessible is if the entire site were built in poorly designed Flash.”