Web Axe: web accessibility podcast and blog

Podcast and blog on practical web design accessibility tips.

What is web accessibility? | Email: web axe [at gmail] NOSPAM! dot com

Current Posts

Guidelines Updated for Swedish Public Web Sites

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Swedish Administrative Development Agency has released an updated version of the guidelines for Swedish public sector web sites. The document is used by public organizations when procuring new web sites as well as by developers as an aid in the development process.

A summary of the guidelines in English is due in early 2007. In the meantime, check out these blogs for an overview:

• Guidelines for Swedish public sector websites updated (456 Berea St.)
• New Version of Guidelines for Swedish Public Sector Web Sites (Standards Schmandards)
  

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Presentation on Standards-Driven Web Accessibility

Friday, November 24, 2006

Jared Smith from WebAIM recently spoke at the Refresh06 conference in Orlando, Florida. The slides for his presentation User-center, Standards-driven Web Accessibility are available in Acrobat and HTML formats. Thanks to Jared for providing.

3 comments

Podcast #35: Usability and Accessibility Conference

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Ross and I attended the Fourth Annual Usability and Accessibility Event on World Usability Day, November 14, at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. This podcast covers the day's events with our comments and conversations with various attendees. It's a lot of fun!

Download Web Axe Episode 35 (Usability and Accessibility Conference)

Some folks I met represented the following organizations:

• Menlo Innovations
  
• Explainers
• Briggs & Stratton
  
• Michigan.gov
  
• TechSmith
  

Labels: accessibility, conference, event, podcast, usability

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Podcast #34: Design Considerations for Accessibility

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Considerations for designing an accessible web site, including discussion on web site conventions, navigation, color, text, and layout.

Download Web Axe Episode 34 (Design Considerations for Accessibility)

[Transcript for Web Axe 34]

Stick to Conventions

• Search upper right
• Global navigation across top
• Sub navigation on sides
• Icons

Navigation Considerations

• Skip navigation
• Indicate visited pages, current page
• Use breadcrumbs where possible

Color Considerations

• Ensure enough color contrast
• Light on dark, or dark on light?
• If you change the color of an anchor state, change them all
• Never use color to convey information

Layout Considerations

• If you have a low vision/large text style sheet, convert layout to one column
• Pay attention to if it is obvious you can scroll downward or not
• If Article is broken up between several pages, provide a link to a single page with the whole article for easy printing
• Try and design for 760px minimum width

Text Considerations

• Sans-serif fonts are generally easier to read on a screen
• Print serif fonts are, but light reflects off of paper where screen illuminates light
• Text Sizing
• Ensure font can be enlarged with out breaking the design
• Headers should be larger than regular text (to indicate more importance)
• Fonts should be decent size, not everyone knows how to resize text

Other Considerations

• Limit the use of Flash
• Print Style Sheets
• Graphical buttons should be text with graphical backgrounds (for sizing without pixelation)
• Include an access guide, or site help
• No flickering
• Audio--plan for text-only version and links
• Video--plan for real-time captioning

Labels: accessibility, code, color, design, layout, navigation, podcast, text

1 comments

The Open & Closed Project

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

In case you haven't heard, Joe Clark is starting a research project called The Open & Closed Project. The micropatronage page is here. The goal of the project is:

to write a set of standards for the four fields of accessible media – captioning, audio description, subtitling, and dubbing

A set standards for accessible media is much-needed in the web development community. Cheers to Joe for putting this together. Let's all help support this cause.

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Accessibility Statements

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

There has been some blog discussion recently on whether or not a web site should provide an accessibility statement. You know, the small text link on the site that says "site accessibility" or "AAA compliant". It seems that fear of being sued and trendiness have been the main reasons for accessibility statement pages on many web sites.

The consensus from the professional blogs, with which I mostly agree, is that a Help page should be implemented rather than an accessibility page. The Help page should handle any pertinent topics in addition to accessibility features that may be unique to the web site. I say "unique" because if a Help page exists at all, the content should be outside of general knowledge (such as tab order) and browser-specific instructions (such as pressing CTRL + to enlarge text).

The only exception I would point out is a web site that advertises the accessibility of the web site itself. Case in point, the CheckEngine USA web site, which sponsors Web Axe, contains a Site Accessibility page. The reason for the page is as much for marketing and educational purposes as it is for users with disabilities, etc. The company's specialty is accessibility (as well as web standards and usability) so in this particular case, I believe it makes sense.

More:

• Evaluating the Usability of Online Accessibility Information
• Showing web accessibility statements the door (Poll)
• Accessibility statements or Site help pages?
• Don’t Provide an Accessibility Statement

1 comments

Podcast #33: Interview with Patrick Lauke

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Dennis and Ross interview Patrick Lauke. Patrick is the webmaster at University of Salford and a vital team member of Accessify.com. He is author of a chapter in the book Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance.

Download Episode 33 (Interview with Patrick Lauke)

Transcript of Web Axe 33, with notes and links (courtesy of Patrick Lauke)

More Links:

• Web Standards Project (WaSP)
  
• WaSP ATF Manifesto
• Accessites.org
• Computer Weekly article "How to make your website fit for all"
• Accessible Digital Media - Design Guidelines for Electronic Publications, Multimedia and the Web
  

Labels: accessibility, author, expert, interview, podcast, standards, web

1 comments

IE7 Not Fully Supported By Some Screen Readers

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The Blind Access Journal blog has some information on compatibility of Internet Explorer 7 and screen reader software.

• Beware: Internet Explorer 7.0 Not Fully Supported By Some Current Screen Readers
• Avoiding Microsoft's Upcoming Automatic Internet Explorer 7.0 Update

1 comments

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Previous Posts

• Podcast #76: Web Accessibility Disasters
• Roundup: Accessibility Links on Twitter
• Accessible YouTube Sites
• Free Browsers for Visual Impairment
• Colorblind, Law, and Lightboxes
• Podcast #75: Jeremy Keith Interview, Google Wave
• ATIA Chicago 2009
• Accessibility Round-Up from Twitter
• Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics
• Accessible Twitter Wins Award, Slidedeck

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Related Sites

• Web Overhauls - tune-up your web site!
• Accessible Twitter - superior alternative to Twitter.com.
• 3.7crea.tv - web design and marketing blog.
• Refresh Detroit - regional group for web professionals.
• Detroit Podcasters Network.
• Website Design - seo friendly web design company.

About the Hosts

 

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Web Axe was nominated for "Podcast of the Year" in .net magazine's 2008 and 2009 Best of the Web awards.

To learn more about Dennis Lembree, the founder and main host of Web Axe, visit his web site at www.DennisLembree.com.