Categories
articles

Web Accessibility Myths

In the article Web Accessibility Myths, common misunderstandings of accessible web sites are addressed and rebutted. Be it a poorly marked-up article, the content has some great points including:

  • Creating a separate text-only equivalent can lead to a number of problems.
  • To develop an accessible website from scratch will cost virtually the same as to develop a website that isn’t accessible.
  • Web accessibility actually places very few restrictions on website design.
  • Blind and disabled people benefit from the Internet perhaps more than anyone else.
Categories
law

Mexico Signs Manifesto on Web Accessibility

Twenty-three Mexican states and three Mexican municipalities have created and signed a manifesto on web accessibility and usability. The manifesto states:

As administrators, our objective is to create and maintain websites that are both useful and easy to use for the widest possible audience: usable and accessible websites. We believe that government, academia and the private sector should work together to achieve this objective.

The manifesto sprang from the Usability and Accessibility for the Web International Seminar which was held in Monterrey, Mexico this past July (2007).

Categories
ajax podcast screenreader

Podcast #57: AJAX and Accessibility (Part 2)

Previously, Dennis and Guest Mark McKay began the discussion on nearly taboo subject of AJAX and web accessibility in Podcast #49: AJAX and Accessibility. Now in Part 2, Dennis and Ross discuss the problems and solutions in greater detail.

Download Web Axe Episode 57 (AJAX and Accessibility, Part 2)

The Problems & Solutions

  • Notifying screen readers updated content
  • For JavaScript disabled browsers, use Hijax and progressive enhancement
  • The dreaded alternative page
  • The future?

AJAX Links

News

Announcements

Categories
law

Court rules against Target on website accessibility lawsuit

Huge news pertaining to web accessibility law in the U.S. — a California court ruled that web sites such as target.com are required by California law to be accessible.

Categories
browser text visual

Don’t Use Text Resizing Widgets

Web sites should not implement text resizing widgets–you know, those little buttons, usually an “A+” and “A-” that increase/descrease the size of the text on the site. The responsibility for providing this functionality lies with the browser, like the forward and back buttons.

Web designers/owners need to put forth more effort in teaching/guiding the user to using the browsers’ features for text resizing. Equally, the browsers themselves should make this feature more obvious and usable.

In addition, most sites I see that use resizing widgets are not very accessible; they seem to add this feature as a cheap replacement (bluff, excuse) for a genuinely accessible web site.

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