I have seen several articles about the relatively new site, Thoof, which is similar to Digg, both sites where you can submit material that you like for the entire community to access. I have not been able to register yet with Digg, but I have already begun to develop an opinion on the two.
Digg has been around since 2004 and has established a very large user base. Their links are all over the web, and although I have not been a member, there have been multiple situations where I have seen “Digg it” links. Thoof, on the other hand, is very new. They have not spread like wildfire just yet and their links are nowhere to be found. As far as I know, the only way to submit material to them is through their submission links. Thoof was easier to sign up on and does not require excessive information or CAPTCHA validation on registration, but their sign up information is on separate pages, rather than put in one place. Then, when you go to submit things, my screen reader does not work well with the type of buttons they use and so I have to look for them and click them, which wouldn’t work for some of my friends with no vision. Then, they also have their CAPTCHA when you submit that is three little kittens you must click and again I had to rely on my limited sight. They have no audio CAPTCHA or anything, making them unusable for screen readers. Also, I read in the FAQ that they use a lot of colors to indicate different things and that a lot of links and graphics that you need to do certain things are only accessible by hovering the mouse over an item, another thing that is not accessible to screen readers. Digg has a normal CAPTCHA when you register but they provide a listen link for the audio version. The only problem is that at the moment it is not working for me, but it was only a matter of a couple hours before I got an email response from a human being regarding my complaint about this and they are already working with me to fix this. Digg has responded to me more than once yesterday evening and, although I heard nothing overnight, I imagine I’ll get at least one more reply from them before I hear a word from Thoof. I wrote Thoof around the same time and still have heard nothing, although it hasn’t quite been long enough to be reasonable, but it does tell me that Digg staff are more active. Also, from what I have seen of the Digg site, it seems a lot more user friendly for screen readers.
And so, as good as Thoof may look to a sighted person, I’d say that Digg is the superior site, and if you include the activeness of the Digg staff, I’d say it is better for all.
