Category: Guides

Brower Wars (Part 1)

Posted by admin – July 30, 2010

Let the wars begin in today’s article we are going to look at the different web browsers available and what this means for accessibility.

To start off I thought we would look at what the Top 5 Web Browsers by Usage in April 2009 were:

1. Internet Explorer

2. FireFox

3. Chrome

4. Safari

5. Opera

If you are interested you can check out a Complete list of Web Browsers available at Wikipedia.

For those who are interested in understanding the differences between the different web browsers available today and the different features they currently offer check out the Comparison of web browsers article on Wikipedia.

So now we know what Web Browsers exist and what the difference are we will look at why this important in terms of accessibility.

A Key reason to make sure site is accessible is that with over 100 different Web Browsers available today you want to make sure your web site will work is most if not ALL of these browsers to give you largest possible audience for your web site.

So how do I make sure my web site will work in all these browsers? This is quite simple to make sure your web site will work in as many web browsers as possible and reach the largest number of visitors possible you need to make sure it complies with as many of the 12 Guidelines set out in the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as possible you can view the guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ .

Stay Tuned for Part 2 of Browsers Wars in Early August 2010.

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The Law

Posted by admin – May 18, 2010

One of the Biggest reasons to make sure your web site is accessible is that in a lot of cases a certain level of accessibility is required and if your site does not meet these requirments you could be fined etc.

It would be impossible for me write an article that covers the legal requirements in terms of accessibility so instead I am going to post a few a key links below for you to do your own research.

USA

Canada

Australia

New Zealand

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Testing Your Sites Accessibility

Posted by admin – May 9, 2010

Once you made your site you probably want to know how accessible your site really is to this you have a few different options:

1. Test Using Web Based Automatic Testers, These are often Free and very easy to use however are not perfect and some things make not get picked up, However as a guide these a great point to start, A few of my favorite web testers are below:

2. Is to hire a Web Accessibility Consultant to test your site although most developers can build a accessible web site getting an external consultant to test your site is the best way to ensure it’s accessibility.

3. This is perhaps the most time consuming option to test your sites accessibility yourself, using different checklist and checking your page in many different browsers and computers to see how it loads.

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Blogging

Posted by admin – April 22, 2010

The below publication is still being written so some sections may be missing, incomplete or contains errors at this time.

Blogs are considered to be some of the most accessible forms of web sites on the internet today.In the following publication I am going to be looking at Blogs and relevant issues and how they can be overcome. Due to large length of this document I have included a table of contents so you can navigate the document faster and easier.

Table Of Contents

1. What is a Blog?

2. How do Blogs work?

3. Who uses Blogs?

4. Why are Blogs so inaccessible?

5. Why are some Blogs more accessible than others?

6. How can I make my Blog more accessible?

7. Is there a Blogging system out there what is accessible?

1. What is a Blog?

A blog can also being known as a Online Diary, Weblog. A Blog is a online journal of thoughts, article or other content which is updated regularly.

2. How do Blogs work?

A Blog is easier to maintain than a web site as it is often done via an online application (Java Script, Java Applet, PHP, Perl) or e-mail. these can then be viewed

Essentially when someone wants to add new content to there blog they will normally just log into an online system where they will have several option one of which will be add new post Journal. Once this is done someone simply types in the content they want to publish and edit like a word document once this is done they then click publish at which point the post is available for everyone to read over the internet.

3. Who uses Blogs?

All sorts of people and business from countries around the world use Blogs to convey information on issues, share thoughts, views, reviews, and opinions.

Some interesting Blog statistics:

  • Over 10 Million blogs exist
  • Over 20 companies offering free Blog services

Blogging is becoming one of the most popular ways for people to have a web site.

4. Why are Blogs so inaccessible?

As there are so many different options out there for people to use to create and maintain there blog and every one of these blog services relies on different coding and web languages in order to make it work correctly this is where most of the problem lies however there are several other things that make blogs inaccessible they are:

  • Blog Services Developers are not considering people with disabilities.
  • No standard exist for Blog accessibility
  • Inability to edit templates and source code
  • Reliance of visual controls and mouse use to edit and maintain blog.
  • The Use of Spam Preventing Tools And Features

The main reason is that the problems exist is due to the large time and expense required in order to make these services accessible.

5. Why are some Blogs more accessible than others?

As for the reason why some Blogs and blogging tools are more accessible than others this is because they all operate and rely of different intefaces and technologies to work and some of technologies and interfaces are more accessible than others this is why all the different Blogs and Blogging services have verying levels of accessibility.

6. How can I make my Blog more accessible?

All the different Blogging services have different options and templates you can choose from which will affect your blogs accessibility so I am unable to give an accurate instructions on how to make your blog more accessible. However is are some general rules that should be following in order ot make your blog accessible.

  1. Have good Contrast between background and text on the screen.
  2. Removing unesecary content from your Blog navigation system
  3. Provide an RSS Feed
  4. If you access to the template code then remove any uneeded coding

7. Is there a Blogging system out there what is accessible?

The simple answer to this there is No completely accessible Blogging system out there at the current time.

If you are willing to pay for Blog hosting then you can get more accessible Blog and options than most of the free services.

Some free services do publish accessible Blogs however I have not found a service what has decent accessibility in the control panel system.

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Web Based Email

Posted by admin – April 22, 2010

Web Based E-mail services like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail have being around for many years now however there is much divided opinion on whether or not they are really any better than POP3 or other e-mail systems today.

This is especially important when it comes to looking the accessibility of various e-mail systems for Blind and visually impaired people. I could give you a list of thousands of free and Paid E-mail providers out there today but I would probably just scare you off.

Instead I am just going to discuss the positives and negatives of each option.

The first option is Web Based E-mail although nearly every e-mail provider out there will provide you web based access to your e-mail I am only looking at the ones that provide Web Based E-mail as main means of access.

Every Web Based E-mail Provider uses a slightly different system (services, layout, colors, Back end Operation) and all have different levels of accessibility and usability and for this reason I am unable to give you a definite yes or no answer to whether or not web based e-mail is accessible but as rule generally most of the largest web e-mail providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and fairly accessible and easy to use with a screen reader. For more information on a particular Web Based E-mail providers accessibility try searching Google.

Now that we have looked at the web based e-mail providers we will look at the POP3 based e-mail providers. As a rule all of these are accessible if you have an accessible E-mail Client.

Some examples of E-mail Clients are:

  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Outlook Express
  • Thuderbird

Of course like web based e-mail client there’s are hundreds of different applications out there you can use for an E-mail Client.

There are other methods of receiving e-mail out there such as via a Mobile Device (Mobile Phone, PDA) or through specialized devices but for the purpose of this I am only looking at the above to mentioned options as these are most common.

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Easy To Understand Guidelines

Posted by admin – April 22, 2010

his summary is should only be used as a guide and has being rewritten in order to try and simply the guidelines and does not include substantial amounts of information as in the original document produced by Word Wide Web Consortium View The Original Document Now

Guideline 1: Where there are non-text objects in your web page make sure you provide a Text or audio equivalent e.g. Provide alt tags for images, Input fields (Form Boxes), Applet, and Flash.

Guideline 2: Do not have a web site that relies on color or has poor contrast between links, text and background. To test simply lower the screen resolution on your computer to 800 by 600 at 256 colors.

Guideline 3: By not using markup or Style sheets properly you make your web site very difficult for people using specialized software to navigate or understand. Where possible style sheet should be used to control layout and formatting. By doing this you make it easier for people using specialized software to navigate your site as formatting can be controlled using the browser.

Guideline 4: State natural language of document in the header so people screen reader or synthesizers can access the web easily and understand what the software is telling them. This can be done by placing a simple tag in the HTML header.

Guideline 5: Tables should not be used to layout web sites and only information that is truly suitable for tables should be placed in a table. When tables are used they should have the proper markup used as some screen readers and specialized software will not be able interpret the information properly.

Guideline 6: When using JAVA, Flash or other new web technologies ensure that there is a text equivalent for people who have these features turned off or appropriate software to support them uninstalled.

Guideline 7: Ensure that timed, scrolling or auto updating content can be stopped so that people using screen readers are able to have the content interpreted by the screen reader.

Guideline 8: Where imbedded content is used ensure the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the object is accessible this can be tested by using the keyboard to access the object.

Guideline 9: Allow for users to be able interact with your web site using any number of input devices (Keyboard, mouse, voice, and more)

Guideline 10: Use solutions that are compatible with older web browser and older screen readers.

Guideline 11: “Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.” The above was obtained from the W3C Web Site.

Guideline 12: Provide information and the layout and context of your web site. e.g. Title Frames and pages appropriately, Do not provide large slabs of information where possible, label form controls.

Guideline 13: Provide simple and clear navigation including a navigation bar and a sitemap, site search facility to increase the chances of your site visitors finding what they are looking for.

Guideline 14: Provide clear and simple content (correct spelling and grammar) and avoid using industry specific technical terms.

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Accessible Online Presentations

Posted by admin – December 29, 2009

When it comes to putting presentations into your web site for visitors to watch there are several options available to the web publisher they include:

  • Using Flash
  • Creating the presentation in HTML by hand.
  • Converting the file using a wizard
  • Downloadable file
  • WEBAIM Wizard
  • Movie File

So now comes the hard part which one is best to use and why. First up we can eliminate the movie file, or the use of flash and these 2 options are useless to people using screen readers.You can also eliminate converting the file using a wizard as this often creates non compliant code which is not accessible.

This leaves us 3 options Downloadable file, creating the presentation in HTML by hand, or WEBAIM wizard. Although all these options are good choice they also all have a downside. The below table looks at the good and bad points of each of the remaining options.

When it comes to putting presentations into your web site for visitors to watch there are several options available to the web publisher they include:

  • Using Flash
  • Creating the presentation in HTML by hand.
  • Converting the file using a wizard
  • Downloadable file
  • WEBAIM Wizard
  • Movie File

So now comes the hard part which one is best to use and why. First up we can eliminate the movie file, or the use of flash and these 2 options are useless to people using screen readers.You can also eliminate converting the file using a wizard as this often creates non compliant code which is not accessible.

This leaves us 3 options Downloadable file, creating the presentation in HTML by hand, or WEBAIM wizard. Although all these options are good choice they also all have a downside. The below table looks at the good and bad points of each of the remaining options.

Option Comparison
Option The Good The Bad
HTML By Hand
  • Accessible
  • Highly Compatible
  • Customizable
  • Free
  • If coded badly not accessible
  • Time Consuming
WEBAIM Wizard
  • Easy To Use
  • Accessible
  • Free
  • Not as powerful as HTML code
Downloadable File
  • Easy To Impliment
  • User Friendly
  • Free
  • Not all people have program.
  • can be large files to dowload
  • use large bandwidth
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Comon Questions

Posted by admin – December 29, 2009

Why is web accessibility important?

If you ever have the opportunity to listen to the limited and confusing information presented by a screen reading program as it attempts to read a poorly designed Web page aloud, the seriousness of the problem is “eye-opening.”

Source: Egan, Candace. California State University, Fresno Interim Web Accessibility Plan, June 18, 2001.

What are the benifits of having an accessible web site?

The advantages to employing accessible Web design go beyond the need to make information available to people with disabilities. Accessible Web pages insure that information reaches the broadest audience, enabling the accommodation of not only physical limitations, but also language, age, technological and other factors that effect access to the Web. And employing techniques that make pages accessible also facilitates effective Web design by resulting in cleaner code and greater browser compatibility.

Do I have to make my site accessible?

Most countries these days have regulations or laws set out about Web Accessibility and the best way to understand the requirements is visits the governments web site in your country. Below is a list of countries and links to the relevant government web site.

How do I know if my web site is accessible or not?

The best way to test your web site accessibility is to see if meets the W3C WAI Checklist

View W3C Checklist Now

Can I use Java or Flash in my site if I want it to be accessible?

Yes both Java, and flash technologies can be used in a web site while maintaining accessibility. Although the W3C WAI 1.0 guidelines and checklists say that java and flash should not be used.

This is true is most cases on the web as the technologies offered are inaccessible as the developers are not aware of the requirements to make them accessible. However with a few small changes most Java or flash technologies can become accessible to all.

For more information on making your Java or Flash Applets Accessible visit any of the following web sites:

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What is web accessibility?

Posted by admin – December 29, 2009

The World Wide Web has the potential to make information more accessible to people with disabilities by facilitating the use of adaptive technologies for presenting information in multiple ways.

However, as the capabilities of the Web have advanced, the addition of technical and creative enhancements such as images, audio and video clips, JavaScript’s, flash and shockwave animations, and techniques for forcing the layout and style of Web pages have often conspired to make the Web inaccessible to those with physical impairments.

Universal accessibility to the Web means that all people, regardless of their physical or developmental abilities or impairments, have access to Web-based information and services. Making Web pages accessible is accomplished by designing Web pages that allow the effective use of adaptive technologies to access their content.

Source: Egan, Candace. California State University, Fresno Interim Web Accessibility Plan, June 18, 2001.

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