Package: wnpp Version: N/A; reported 2002-12-03 Severity: wishlist * Package name : access_gateway Version : x.y.z Upstream Author : Name <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * URL : http://www.flatline.org.uk/~silas/access.html * License : GPL Description : CGI script for special-needs Web users
Web Access Gateway is an online ``browser within a browser'' that gives you more control over how websites are displayed, regardless of which browser you have to use. It is useful for people with print disabilities (e.g. legally blind or dyslexic) especially when they are forced to use browsers that they can't configure, such as in public libraries or shared computer rooms with strict policies, or on set-top boxes. It can also be used to display images of Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters when fonts are not installed on the client. Some webmasters have used it to help make their websites more accessible to the disabled (although this doesn't always work, especially not if you use a lot of client-side scripting). The gateway is implemented as a CGI script in C++, that acts as a mediator between the user and the website. The server that the CGI script is running on needs to make outgoing connections (optionally through a proxy) to retrieve the pages that users request. If your organisation serves pages that are not visible from outside, then a suitably-configured local installation may help your users. You might also want a personal copy of the gateway (or one on your website) so that you are not tied to an outside website. For personal use, "Muffin" and other programs can achieve similar functionality (although the exact feature set may differ). The main advantage of Web Access Gateway is that the end-user does not have to change proxy settings (sometimes changing these is forbidden) and that the customisation is done on a per-session basis from the browser (and can be bookmarked). There are some glitches with the installation script (like, it removes the source code when it's finished) and the thing complains if it's too old, but I think it's getting fairly "stable" now (meaning I'm not making many updates), so if someone wanted to package it then I might be motivated to provide a version without these annoyances. -- System Information Debian Release: 3.0 Architecture: i386 Kernel: Linux ssb22 2.4.18 #10 Wed Jul 3 00:22:04 BST 2002 i686 Locale: LANG=en_GB, LC_CTYPE=en_GB
