Archive for the 'Accessibility' Category

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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Video’s of assistive technology in use

Take a look at the AssistiveWare website to see videos on assistive technology in use for computer accessibility. Providing a useful insight and understanding, the video’s show real life experiences by users using a wide range of technologies, enabling them to work, enjoy their leisure and manage their daily life with the use of computers.
Source: 456 Berea Street.

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Free tools to test your site for accessibility

Following on from my posting earlier in the month where a US court issued two landmark decisions that the Target Corporation has to make their website accessible to blind people, web accessibility is an area which many nonprofits and charities still find difficult to implement on their sites.
In this article I’m going to show a few of the free easy to use tools available which can help you with testing your website not only for accessibility but also usability and web standards too. Later in the article, I’ll list some other useful resources and services that are available to help charities and organisations.

Accessibility and usability are key to a successful site. You will want your site to be accessible to the widest possible audience regardless of ability or browsing technology, including those who have visual, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments. Conformance to the W3C guidelines helps to make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and benefits all users. In short, it makes the web a better place for everyone.

If you are the person responsible in your organisation for creating or updating your website, there are some free easy to use tools to help you test and examine your site.

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Success with the law on accessible websites

A federal district court judge in California has issued two landmark decisions in a nationwide class action against the Target Corporation ruling that they must make their website accessible to the blind.
Read more about the case at Max Design.

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Let your readers be in control: Text resizing

Text resize buttons on a single website or enable your readers to take control and learn how to make all their internet viewing a better experience? Which would you prefer?

Later in this article, I’ll provide you with a helpful list of links to resources which can help you to understand more about accessibility.

As well as designing for the web, and supporting groups to make informed choices for their website ideas, I also help with accessibility audits too. Some people get ‘told and sold’ that their website is accessible because of a bit of code that shows buttons on their site to enable their viewers to resize their text on that site. In some cases, a few of these sites are highly in accessible in many other areas. I’m not totally against resize buttons, and have implemented it myself within reason on some sites where relevant and complimentary to compliant, accessible design. I also include helpful guides on how to resize text easily within your browser. I do feel though, that text resize buttons, don’t serve any real value and shouldn’t be needed. I also ensure that even without these controls, the site aims to be accessible from the users end, as best as possible, no matter what device, browser or platform they are using to access the information they are seeking.

Another common barrier to making a websites more usable for all can be the way that some accessibility statements on sites are written. They are conveyed in a manner which seem best read by other website developers, rather than for the understandable benefit to the end user who just wants to be able to access their site of choice without having to learn and understand a myriad of jargon about the way the site was designed.

One example of text resizing buttons acting in a complementing manner is on the Webcredible website. Not only do they have buttons, but also the site design is carefully constructed for maximum usability and accessibility, that’s what Webcredible do. Also they have a simple piece on their ‘about this site’ page which enables users to take control and learn how they can change their text viewing size for themselves. But sadly not all sites are that well designed.

One person that I know well, who has difficulties with many sites due to the font size, often finds that text resize buttons cause more of a barrier than a help. Especially when they are viewing sites with outgoing links. What use is making one site with text resizing facilities when that site then leads them to another website with a totally different ability to render text at an appropriate size?

So, shouldn’t we all be trying to help users to have a better experience by helping them to take control?
By improving your readers knowledge and understanding with help on suitable browsers (including Opera and Firefox) and showing them how to make their viewing easier, the internet can slowly but surely become a more inclusive place for all.

At Accessify, a website of tools and resources to help with accessibility for websites, Ian Lloyd has posted an article “Teach a Man to Fish (or How to Resize Text)”. It includes a visual guide video on text resizing. The video shows how you can take control by showing how easy this can be achieved in a variety of browsers. For those that cannot see the video there is a text transcript available too. The aim of the video and transcription is that it helps to provide a visual and audio way to complement “accessibility / how to use this site” statements on websites.

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