Tommy can you hear me? Tommy can you hear me?

Sorry, I couldn't resist! The reason for the title is because I want to discuss making web sites for the deaf and blind.

Now, when it comes to our friends who are visually and hearing-impaired, incorporating technology into those sites has come a long way. For those who are deaf, I've discovered most YouTube videos now come with the option to toggle closed-captioning. And I do know that computer systems contain speech-to-text for blind users, to help them feel their way around.

In my opinion, these are real necessities for any website maker. Even those who just lost their sense (well, some of it anyway) want to learn to how to use computers. Now, for starters, I would also want to include the CC'ing of a certain sound effect to identify whether a window is being opened or any other computer command, plus include a sensor that sounds for when the mouse isn't in the site window (blind) and pronunciations on certain words deaf people may not get.

Who ever said computers weren't any good for anybody?

How did I first start on the Web?

Well, my memories of Web design date back to around 1996, when I was just starting to have an AOL account of my own. It was just some various sites about TV shows I really liked.

Then things really began to take off when I was in middle school, where we learned to design home pages on Homestead. They didn't go over quite well as I hoped. Besides, getting ideas took time to put together to make the site substantial.

In high school, we made our own sites in my computer graphics class, showcasing all the art we've done in the class.

But college--that's another story. We were to make sites showcasing our work for every class we had in my Digital Media Arts major. I even took the liberty of incorporating my high school artwork within.

Oh, what a tangled Web...

Now, the Web may be useful, fun and all that, but most of us more often than not have had some trouble with everything about it. I'm one of them.

The biggest gripes I usually have about the Web are:

• the fact that when I'm on a particular site like YouTube or Veoh, some of the videos within tend to be no longer available due to a copyright claim--for all the wrong reasons

• having to put up with timeouts and delays in connecting to the Web

• when a domain name goes up for sale with no customers

• pop-up ads

In fact, I could go on all day... but what I DO like about the Web is that has the right information at the right time.

See, the most annoying things do have their softer side too.

A quaint little welcome

Hello all, and welcome to this special blog. I'm doing this as part of my WEBD-234 online class at Franklin University.

Now, I trust we have a lot to discuss how we plan to put our knowledge to the test in putting our sites together. Expect more from this blog this fall.