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

Accessibility to the Face

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Accessibility to the Face is a must read article for any web site owner, designer, or developer, etc., especially for those who doubt the importance of creating an accessible web site. It's a personal perspective by Rob Foster. The article doesn't mention web accessibility specifically, but is directly related (well, he does mention Section 508).

Here's a quote about the goal of the article:

My hope with this article is to make accessibility issues surrounding disabilities become real for the reader. The ideal response for me would be for people to think a little harder about the people using your product or experience and what it might be like for those who may not have all their faculties.

1 comments

Webinar, Partnership, and Easy Apps

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Flash and PDF Webinar

You have two more chances to view the webinar The Paciello Group and Adobe Present WCAG 2.0 Accessibility Webinars for Flash and PDF. They will be March 31 and April 1, at 12 noon Eastern Time.

Partnership

Recently, there was a partnership announced between WebAIM and The Paciello Group. The two are teaming up to provide web site owners with full accessibility testing and professional services (by The Paciello Group) and additionally receiving the WebAIM Accessible Site Certification.

Easy Apps

Below are two web applications which make Web 2.0 site mores accessible and usable. They are both from "DOM God" Chris Heilmann.

• Easy SlideShare - Convert slide presentations from SlideShare to easy-to-read text.
  
• Easy YouTube - super simple interface for viewing YouTube videos.

UPDATE Mar 29

• Fixed the Easy YouTube link above.
• Also try QuietTube!
  

Labels: adobe, video, webaim

0 comments

Web Axe RSS Reader Stats

Friday, March 20, 2009

Just thought it would be interesting to post some statistics for the Web Axe RSS feed, provided by FeedBurner.

So what reader/aggregator application are people using? The stats last July were much more balanced. But now, Google's Reader (or Feedfetcher) is still at number one, but has approximately 8 times higher usage than iTunes (and that's Mac and Windows combined). Netvibes is next on the list, which is one of my favorite tools.

As far as readership goes, it's been increasing pretty well. In just 3 months so far this year Web Axe has increased its subscriber rate by over six hundred, more than 33%! There are almost 1,900 RSS followers. Thank you Web Axe readers!



Google Feedfetcher: 1208; iTunes (Mac): 100; Netvibes: 89; NewGator Online: 71; iTunes (Windows): 58; Bloglines: 52; Windows RSS Platform: 21; Odeo 19.

Labels: administrative, RSS

3 comments

Podcast #69: Recovery.gov Site Review

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Download Web Axe Episode 69 (Recovery.gov Site Review)

Events

• Web 2.0 Expo 2009 (San Francisco) March 31- April 3.
• Refresh Detroit, Transitioning from Print to Web Design, Wednesday, March 25, Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• European Accessibility Forum Frankfurt, Germany, 27 March 2009.
• CSUN Tweetup 2009 - "Twitter Meetup" at the CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, March 18.
• SXSW is going on right now (jealous I am).

News

• Web Axe is now on Twitter. Don't forget to use Accessible Twitter!
  
• 456 Bereastreet offers some advice on how to setup screen reader test environments
• WCAG 2.0 States that all text should be able to be resized to 200%
• Call for review of the WAI-ARIA working document

Main Segment

Dennis and Ross give a web accessibility review of the new U.S. government site Recovery.gov. Topics discussed include:

• skip-to link
• menu
• headings
  
• XHTML validation
• tables
• forms
• ALT attributes
• titles

Labels: conference, event, podcast, review, standards, twitter

1 comments

Acronym and Abbr, Referencing W3C Docs, Hiding Text Links

Friday, March 13, 2009

Some good recent web accessibility articles:

• Acronym/Abbreviation best practice conundrum - Jared Smith from WebAIM discusses the issues with the use of the acronym and abbreviation tags and screen readers, and asks for input.
  
  
• Which links to what: Referencing WCAG, ATAG, UAAG, and WAI-ARIA - The W3C explains referencing and linking to their documentation.
  
  
• The Problem With Invisible Links - Frustrated screen reader user argues against the use of invisible links, with good reason.
  

Labels: abbreviation, acronym, links, screenreader, wcag

0 comments

Web Axe now on Twitter

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

You can now follow Web Axe on Twitter under the username WebAxe. Better yet, use the web-accessible version of Twitter, Accessible Twitter.

Labels: administrative, twitter

1 comments

CannyBill and BrowseAloud

Monday, March 02, 2009

I've recently been contacted by two companies with products relating to web accessibility, so I thought I'd pass on the information.

CannyBill

A very slick and accessible web application for invoicing and billing. Online demos and a free account is available. CannyBill is a product of dpivision.com Ltd who have also developed some other pretty cool software such as Tradingeye.

CannyBill is a web-based invoicing and billing solution for businesses and web designers. Easily create, send and manage invoices and accept payments online via credit card. You can also sell your products and services using order forms which your customers can signup to and even link to live API's...

BrowseAloud

BrowseAloud is a text-to-speech solution which reads website content aloud and addresses the needs of those citizens with:

• Mild Visual Impairments
• Learning Disabilities
• Literacy Difficulties such as Dyslexia
• English as a Second Language

BrowseAloud is a zero impact solution for webmasters and is free to end users. Within the USA there are a number of organizations using BrowseAloud to improve the accessibility of their website, including:

• House of Representatives
• Human Rights Education Associates
• St Marys County, Maryland

2 comments

Like Web Axe?

Mapper on Frappr

Add yourself to the Web Accessibility Enthusiasts mapper

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

Archives

--Select A Month-- September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 Submit

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

 

Footer

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.