Accessibility
This week I’ll be immersed in web accessibility; I just finished the abstract for an article about it, it’s the weekly keyword for 480, I’m giving a workshop on the subject Tuesday, and I might end up writing another article on the topic soon.
Reading Dive Into Accessibility is always a joy. The five scenarios at the beginning are marvelous, and the book provides great techniques. Once again, I find myself marveling at Braille displays. I can’t imagine being able to read only 40 or 70 letters at a time. And spending $5K for a computer display? Yikes.
I wonder if anyone in class has an answer for Pilgrim’s question about Blogger: “Unfortunately, I do not know how to customize page titles satisfactorily in Blogger. Suggestions welcome.”
I find myself working through the book and looking at the English site, wondering if I need to make improvements in web accessibility features, or if the techniques I’m using are effective. I think I’m going to write up a formal audit of the site which shows how I’m either doing what DIA recommends, or why it’s irrelevant (e.g. I don’t use image maps or layout tables).
October 6th, 2005 at 3:43 pm
What would be a good and bad example of web accessability in terms of websites?
October 6th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
The WIU English site is good. You can also look at pretty much any of the accessibility advocacy sites (WebAIM, Jim Thatcher, etc.).
Bad examples are all over the WIU site and the web in general. Look at the code and/or look for sites which aren’t doing the most basic things discussed in DIA.
October 10th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
What do you think is the single most important thing to do to a website to make it accessable to the most people possible.
October 11th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Kevin, that’s a good question which merits a separate post.