Archive for the 'Accessibility' Category

Surf Right Toolbar from the RNIB

The Web Access Centre at RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) has launched the Surf Right Toolbar. The new toolbar available for Internet Explorer is designed to make adjusting viewing options easier, using either the mouse or keyboard.

Many of the functions that the toolbar offers are already available via the ‘Internet Options’ tab in the Internet Explorer browser; but many people are unaware that these options exist, so the toolbar serves as a useful tool to make it easier and quicker to change their viewing options and helps with accessibility.

The toolbar has been developed by RNIB and the Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C).

To find out more about the features of the toolbar and how to download, visit the Web Access Centre Blog’s recent article at RNIB Surf Right Toolbar - beta version available.

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Accessihacking

Chris Heilmann did an excellent thought inspiring post yesterday on his blog at Wait til I come! on Is it time to take Mashups and use them to solve real issues? where he writes about his mashup fatigue but also the recent events that have re-inspired him to think again with mashups especially later in the post on talking about the recent Social Innovation Camp with the winning and innovative Enabled by Design project, along with the Accessibility 2.0 conference and accessibility for all, with thoughts of creating an event for social and accessible hacking of currently used internet services.

As a web dev into all things participative and accessible to all, and with much of our modern fangled Web 2.0 which can unknowingly cause barriers to involvement for many, this was a refreshing post, I can’t wait to see if more unfolds from this.

Check out the article and add to the conversation at - Is it time to take mashups and use them to solve real issues?

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Accessibility 2.0: a million flowers bloom

AbilityNet are holding an Accessibility 2.0 event later this week. Accessibility 2.0 will be a practical conference focussing on web accessibility in a Web 2.0 world, and looking at practical solutions to making the modern web a more inclusive and accessible place for all.

On the event webpage you can listen to a podcast or download a transcript with conference host Robin Christopherson, Head of Accessibility Services with AbilityNet discussing Web 2.0. He talks about some of the barriers encountered from a users perpective with some modern social networking websites and also the hopes with innovation the future.
Excerpt from the site -

“Being blind I’m honestly a bit worried what Web 2.0 will mean for me and my access to websites and web apps in the coming months and years. If accessibility isn’t foremost in everyone’s minds I’m afraid I’ll actually have less choice in what I can access, and that I’ll find surfing more difficult in general. Faced with inaccessible sites, those sites that do it well will have my custom for sure.”

Find out more about the event and to listen to the podcast at Accessibility 2.0.

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CSS Naked Day

Visitors to my blog will notice something missing today. (on the 9th April only) It’s the third annual CSS Naked Day and over 1500 websites and blogs across the globe will have taken part.

The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course, a good ‘ol play on words. It’s time to show off your

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Article on making videos more accessible on blogs

Problogger guest writer Stephen Hopson helps to champion accessibility in making video posts accessible to the deaf community with a step by step guide to adding subtitles to a video post. Check out the insightful article and the interesting reader comments and conversation at Problogger - How to Make Your Video Posts More Accessible.
If interested in making all your media more inclusive to all, there are lots of useful resources and guides on

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Remember accessibilty when using widgets on your website

There’s been much excitement in the media during the past week about a new widget application called Sprout. It aims to be an easy to use Flash based interface with simple drag-and-drop features, to build live, interactive multimedia content that can easily be added to any web page. Once a user publishes a Sprout widget, it can be copied to any website in much the same way as an embedded YouTube video clip. If you make updates to your ‘Sprout’ when logged into your account, it will update on all of the websites you have embedded your homegrown sprout on. Quick and easy.

It’s still in closed beta stage currently, but you can sign up now ready for when it gets to public release.
I’m hoping that when it is fully available for a wider audience to use on their social networks and websites, that it makes amends with its lack of accessibility.

I ran a workshop for non-profits earlier this week on the topic of getting a website for organisations, focussing on many of the free or quick ways available to get an online presence easily. Web standards, usability and accessibility formed a large part of the workshop where I was able to demonstrate that many sites are either unusable or inaccessible to many of the people they aim to reach and work with.

So how could widgets like Sprout be improved to enable a wider audience to be able to access your message and communications? What’s the problem, it looks great on my screen?

The following is a really simple example of the how a websites accessibility and usability can be compromised when flash media widgets are used on a website.

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Common errors with web accessibility

Webcredible’s latest article on 10 common errors when implementing accessibility is a useful reminder for those making their websites accessible and inclusive to all.

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Free screenreader software to assist the blind and visually impaired

Over on David Wilcox’s Designing for Civil Society site, David recently reported about Roger Wilson-Hinds, who was demonstrating screenreader software at the e-democracy conference. The screenreader (known as ‘Thunder’) not only reads text out loud, but also can increase the text size for those that can see. It also helps with managing information, RSS feeds, podcasts and much more.

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Accessibility 2.0: UK newspaper websites featured in study

Today, I was contacted by Laura Oliver who writes for Journalism.co.uk - a leading website for journalists.

Laura informed me that their site is launching a series of features and articles that will be published throughout this week on the accessibility of the UK’s main newspaper websites to blind and visually impaired users. They’ve conducted their own study and assessment of the country’s largest newspaper media websites with a team of volunteers.

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Consultation on accessible government websites

The UK government has issued a consultation document on ‘Delivering Inclusive Websites’.
Read the full story at the Web Standards Project.

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