Bug#171599: RFP: access_gateway -- CGI script for special-needs Web users
Package: wnpp
Version: N/A; reported 2002-12-03
Severity: wishlist
* Package name : access_gateway
Version : x.y.z
Upstream Author : Name <somebody@some.org>
* 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
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