They are BLIND. It doesn't matter if there are pictures or not, they can't read the TEXT.

Are you serious? You think blind people don't use computers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader

Jim,
Enabling technologies for the disabled are a booming market. This would be right on the cusp of that market. I like it much.

Enabling more interaction with the disabled should always be supported. Large market and many avenues for $.

Great idea, i can imagine now, "Awesome, finally I'll be able to see what this social networking thing is about" "LOL R U CZARY? UR HOT!!! WHY DINT U LKEI CALL ME?."

Would you call it Blindster? :D

Here's some interesting statistical information.

http://www.afb.org/S...#038;DocumentID=1367

I think this idea has a lot of merit and I've voted for it. It wouldn't be just text, as many people who are legally blind can see high-contrast text. There are actually guidelines dotted around the place about making good web sites for the visuall impaired (e.g. http://www.mardiros....visual-impaired.html).

Julius, this is a F-king excellent idea, thanks for pointing to it from the forum! ;)

If i may suggest:

1. like all good old chat systems (say, irc) users can enter command mode and chat mode - both audial, of course, say alternated after a click on the mouse.

2. spatial audio is crucial for multiple users chat.

Just as an ilustration what it can do - if you utter a command: "position center" you hear most of the people loud and clear. But then you could also say: "position brim" and then "invite Angela" and if Angela says "proximity deckard", you get yourself speaking with a beautiful girl in the corner, listening everybody else as a distant chatter. And you know what? the audial space on a digital social network does not need to be euclidian, but a really complex graph (complex is good in this case). Somebody can be standing right next to your arbitrary position being completely or partially ignored by you. "Partial ignoring" is something you can get much easier with audio then with text.

There are whole fields of business that need to be invented here.. for example how do you treat broadcasts? If you're blind, you cannot just point and chose your chat "victim", you hear things consequtively.

Julius, there is OpenAL being developed over at sourceforge, I suggest you take a look at it....

To deckard, ehm.. "spatial audio is crucial for multiple users chat."

Wow.. I have no idea what you're talking about. I think my idea triggered you to have an idea. Don't let me stop you, but I was personally thinking about a social network site like Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc , for blind people.

"1. like all good old chat systems (say, irc) users can enter command mode and chat mode - both audial, of course, say alternated after a click on the mouse."

I wasn't talking on chat systems. Not that I want to exclude that, but my audio part was just about customizing a profile.

I hate to admit it, but this is a better idea than mine
(http://www.cambrianhouse.com/idea-warz/idea-promoter/ideas-id/vl447DW). so I have added my support.

it is BOTH innovative AND Humanitarian.

yes, finally, they won't be left out.

they will thank you for giving them the opportunity to "look" for friends that can relate to them-- as you said, their blindness created a sort of cohesion.

Great idea! I love it!

Definitely a good idea. Blind users are becoming more and more common, and a social networking site for them just seems like a natural fit.

I teach C# for the blind at Lion's World Services for the Blind.

Many blind people would not like to be restricted to a "made for blind users only" website. Instead of being singled out, they want to be included like everybody else.

What would be better is a site that everybody can use, that is truly accessible. You don't need to make it look like an ugly blank and white page for accesibility.

Anyway many "blind" people actually have some sight and would like to see graphics and layout on the screen, these users sometimes use a Screen Magnifier or Screen Reader, or maybe just lean very close to the monitor and use a hand magnifier.

Really though, this should not have a large impact on the design. If a website is designed with accessibility in mind and is actually tested to make sure it is user friendly for everyone, then it works great.

Recorded audio navigation would not be used. It would actually prevent a user from interfacing with the site in a standard way, which they are used to.

Besides, I am tired of companies taking advantage of people with disabilities. A typical screen reader or screen magnifier application costs about $1,000. Think about that, just to use the computer, a blind user must pay an additional $1,000.

Then if they want to use a brail display it will cost about $3,000 - $8,000.

I believe that many of these companies are taking advantage of the customers and justifying because of the welfare system in the US.

As a side note, I am helping develop an Open Source Screen Reader / Magnifier that will enable blind users to use computers like anybody else, and do it for the same cost as everybody else.

Code4Christ said:

"Many blind people would not like to be restricted to a "made for blind users only" website. Instead of being singled out, they want to be included like everybody else.

What would be better is a site that everybody can use, that is truly accessible. You don't need to make it look like an ugly blank and white page for accesibility."

Thanks, that's some good feedback. So what your saying is that the 'for the blind' part should be kicked out and 'accessible to all' should be entered. To you know then if this idea (with changes) would still make some sense? Are there social network sites that are accessible to all?

code4Christ, you're the expert, so it kind of lays in your hand, is their room for an project that's somewhat related to what it is now, or did it just die? If the site has no unique part, well, then I'll vote my own idea down :).

I am not sure how accessible the common social networking sites are. However, the internet is mostly accessible thanks to standardization efforts like the W3C.

The biggest problem is Word Verification (without sound verification), and even sound verification leaves out deaf and blind individuals.

I have actually thought of a truly accessible verification system based on simple logic puzzles that anybody can read, but a computer would have difficulty understanding. For example:

Put the following in order: dog cat chicken
Answer: cat chicken dog

Anybody could read this (using sight, screen reader, or brail display). And anybody could answer it (If someone cannot, they probably would not be on the internet).

I have some other ideas like this, but I am against making profit off others' needs. I would love to see a non-profit cambrian house for ideas like this.

BTW, Cambrian House is not very accessible in the voting area...