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Announcing the New Web Axe Website!

Post author By Dennis
Post date October 25, 2012
7 Comments on Announcing the New Web Axe Website!

Welcome to the new Web Axe website, WebAxe.org! The RSS feed has also changed. It is now: http://www.webaxe.org/feed/

After over 7 years on Blogger, the website has moved to WordPress. It uses a fairly customized version of the Blaskan theme. Two important plug-ins used are WP Accessibility and WP-Accessible Twitter feed.

Reasons for the change include a fresh responsive design; a shorter and more accurate domain name; and, of course, to get off Blogger (which itself has many reasons, too many to list!)

What do you think of the new site?

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Podcast #84: Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary

Post author By Dennis
Post date September 9, 2010
No Comments on Podcast #84: Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary

In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Dennis and Ross discuss the history of Web Axe and several memorable moments. Then, nine special guests provide excellent insight and information relating to web accessibility including Paul Boag and Bruce Lawson. It’s great stuff, don’t miss it!

Download Web Axe Episode 84 (Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary)

[Transcript of podcast 84]

Some History

Dennis Lembree launched Web Axe in September 2005 with a boost from the Detroit Podcasters Network.
Co-host Ross Johnson joined September of 2006 in Lists and Accessibility — How and Why? (podcast #26).
Readership continues to grow; over 5,400 Web Axe RSS subscribers (85% of my RSS subscribers are using Google Reader or iGoogle). Number of Twitter followers continues to grow (@WebAxe).
Interesting topics for web accessibility: business reasons, bandwidth and loadtime, and screen resolution.

Memorable Moments

Nominated three years in a row in the .net magazine Best of the Web awards.
Web Axe featured in BBC Podcast, segment on accessibility in Pods & Blogs show.
First interview: Jared Smith of WebAIM, Podcast #27 (September 2006).
Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics recorded from Santa Cruz, California (September 2009).
Podcast #35: Usability and Accessibility Conference recorded from event in Lansing, Michigan (November 2006).
Visit to Yahoo! Accessibility Testing Lab (July 2009).
NFB vs. Target Lawsuit is Settled!
Critiques invoke responses: Recovery.gov, ca.gov, section508.gov

Special Episode Podcast Contributors

Bruce Lawson (Opera, HTML5Doctor) – great HTML5 info.
Denis Boudreau (A11Y_MTL) – French Canadian up very late recording.
Jennison Asuncion – Accessibility tester, researcher, and all-around nice guy.
Karen Mardahl (STCAccess) – Wicked good technical communicator.
Mike Gifford (OpenConcept) – Drupal expert.
Paul Boag (Boagworld) – Well, everyone knows this guy!
Steve Grobschmidt – User Experience Lead and blogger.
Terrill Thompson – A cool musician, basketball fan, and Technology Accessibility Specialist.
Tom Babinszki (Even Grounds) – Accessibility consultant and blogger.

Addendum: Podcast Corrections

Steve Grobschmidt’s last name was announced incorrectly (it’s not “Aquinas”, that’s part of his Twitter handle).
We state that there are 8 guest speakers; there’s actually 9!
We mentioned that Boagworld is no longer podcasting, but failed to mention that they plan on returning in January 2011. (Paul mentions this in his commentary.)

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Free Browsers for Visual Impairment

Post author By Dennis
Post date November 3, 2009
1 Comment on Free Browsers for Visual Impairment

I recently came across an article from disaboom called “Assistive Technology: Top 8 Free Browsers for Visual Impairment and More“. The link was also popular on Twitter. But one problem, there are no links to the mentioned browser! So I went and found them:

WebbIE -accessible browser, RSS news reader and more.
EdWeb – talking web browser that can display web pages as text and symbols.
Fire Vox – Talking Browser Extension for Firefox (add-on page).
CliCk, Speak – less advanced version of Fire Vox.
Orca – speedy and powerful Gecko-based browser.
Simply Web 2000 – outdated; optimized for Internet Explorer 5.
SpeakOn -PC-based media suite program (four apps).
Thunder – package contains the WebbIE Text browser and more.

I’d like to add that Disaboom is a pretty nice site. In their words:

Disaboom is the leading resource for disability information and real-life articles about people with disabilities. Our broad range of topics, including health conditions, lifestyle, and helpful resources, help you create the life you want.

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Web Axe RSS Reader Stats

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.