Current Posts

Podcast #37: Code Considerations for Web Accessibility

Dennis and Ross discuss various techniques on coding for web accessibility (in follow up to Podcast #34: Design Considerations for Web Accessibility). Topics include:

Download Web Axe Episode 37 (Code Considerations for Accessibility)

News

Links

Labels: , , , ,

Digg the Web Axe podcast!

Web Axe is now on Digg, a user driven social content web site. If you find this podcast/blog useful, please visit the site and "digg" Web Axe and its episodes.

Screenreader Emulator Firefox Extension

So you would like to test your web site for screenreaders. It may not the final test, maybe it is. Maybe you don't have screenreader software, or the resources to hire testers, or the time. What do you do?

Here comes the Fangs Screen Reader Emulator for Firefox 1.5 to the rescue. It's by Peter Krantz of Standards-Schmandards. It's yet another valuable Firefox extension for development. Fangs will open a new window with a text sampling of what a screenreader would "say". It also has a tab for a basic headings list and a list of links. Very nifty.
[Fangs] renders a text version of a web page similar to screen reader output. Helps developers find accessibility issues fast.
Direct Download the Fangs Screen Reader Emulator

Web Accessibility News Video

There's a great news segment on web accessibility from the BBC, and available in a video clip. It explains the difficulties of non-accessible web sites pretty well. Check it out:

Podcast #36: Complex Data Tables

In addition to a nice caption tag and summary attribute, you may know that a data table requires table header cells (TH) for the header rows and/or columns, and a scope attribute (see Web Axe episode 3, Data Tables). But what is there is more than one row of headers? This is called a complex table, and a different type of coding should be used.

Download Web Axe Episode 36 (Complex Data Tables)

A complex table: Links:
Sample code (modified from WebAIM):

<table summary="Name, birthdate, and age of Shelly's daughters. Also organized by children by birth and by marriage.">
<caption>Shelly's Daughters</caption>
<tr>
<td></td>
<th id="name">Name</th>
<th id="age">Age</th>
<th id="birthday">Birthday</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th rowspan="2" id="birth">by birth</th>
<th id="jackie">Jackie</th>
<td headers="birth jackie age">5</td>
<td headers="birth jackie birthday">April 5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th id="beth">Beth</th>
<td headers="birth beth age">8</td>
<td headers="birth beth birthday">January 14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th id="step">by marriage</th>
<th id="jenny">Jenny</th>
<td headers ="step jenny age">12</td>
<td headers="step jenny birthday">Feb 12</td>
</tr>
</table>

Labels: , , , , , ,

RSS icon; follow the RSS feed for Web Axe Twitter icon; follow Web Axe on Twitter

Like Web Axe?

Podcast Alley

Odeo

Mapper on Frappr

Add yourself to the Web Accessibility Enthusiasts mapper

Previous Posts

Related Sites

About the Hosts

About Dennis

Dennis Lembree is the founder of web development company Web Overhauls, which specializes in web usability, standards, and accessibility. Follow Dennis on Twitter: @dennisl

About Ross

Ross Johnson runs a web design company (3.7 Designs) that takes a wholistic view on the web and art of constructing pages. They strive to be creative and unique. Follow Ross on Twitter: @3pointross