Category: standards

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Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics

A super special podcast:

  • First time face-to-face recording between Dennis and Ross.
  • In Santa Cruz, California.
  • 4-Year Anniversary for Web Axe.

Download Web Axe Episode 74 (Awards, Events & Back to Basics)

[transcript of podcast 74]

Chatter

Articles

If a page is viewed through Google Chrome Frame in Internet Explorer no content is available to the user of assistive technology (AT). This can be illustrated using the Microsofts accexplorer tool.

Events/Conferences

Main Segment

WCAG 2: Remember P.O.U.R.: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust

  • Perceivable – Interface elements can not be invisible to users.
  • Operable – Users must be able to interact with the interface.
  • Understandable – Users must be able to understand with information and the interface (cognitive).
  • Robust – Must be usable by a wide range of user agents and assisstive technologies.

Use P.O.S.H.: Plain Ol’ Semantic HTML

  • Use headings and properly.
  • P is for paragraph.
  • blockquotes for quotes (not indentation).
  • Use lists for lists, menus, etcetera.
  • Definition Lists.
  • Use strong and em tags versus b and i.

Other topics:

  • Alt text for non-textual elements.
  • Tables
  • Forms
  • JavaScript
  • Device-Independence
  • Visual impairments
  • Audio
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standards

Accessibility Versus Standards

A few weeks ago, an article was published on Smashing Magazine 10 Ways To Make Your XHTML Site Accessible Using Web Standards.

The article drew well over 150 comments, including much criticism from web accessibility experts such as Jared, Patrick Louke, Joe Dolson, and yours truly.

As Andy points out in comment 17, a web page can be 100% XHTML Strict (or standards-compliant) but not be accessible.

In comment 41, the “some random ten things one can do to be more of a web standardista, per se”

In comment 29, Jared list several

Why not?

Categories
standards wordpress

Accessible WordPress Themes?

I’m really on a quest to find some web accessible, standards-compliant WordPress theme. It’s so disappointing that the platform is set up for web standards (and usability, accessibility) but nearly all custom themes break it. Ugh!

Last week, I did a search on Google, but wasn’t happy with the results. Then on Twitter, I asked the question:

Can anyone recommend a few fully accessible, fully standards-complaint #WordPress themes (besides Sea Beast)

I received a few replies, but didn’t get much further in my quest. Then I ran a few searches in the WordPress themes site, but didn’t come up with much. This is what I’ve got so far:

  • Sea Beast by Mike Cherim: the first theme to come to mind. Solid, but outdated.
  • Puritan by Peter Krantz: didn’t try it because it didn’t install with the new version of WordPress, 2.8.
  • Hybrid: Already had it installed , but still needs styling since it’s a framework. And it requires joining a “club”.
  • Stardust: good, but still needs some tweaking.

Does anyone know of any other accessible WordPress themes available? Valid code and semantic markup sure wouldn’t hurt either. Template options and widget-ready are good too! Not sure why this is so difficult. Guess I’ll have to make time to build my own (hopefully late this summer!).

UPDATE 2016

Accessibility-ready WordPress Themes on WordPress.org

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Podcast #71: Gez Lemon Interview & ARIA

Download Web Axe Episode 71 (Gez Lemon Interview & ARIA)

[transcript of podcast 71]

New Song!

This episode premieres the new Web Axe theme song, check it out! Created by Jeff Ensign.

Gez Lemon, ARIA expert

Gez Lemon is a world leader in the web accessibility profession and its community. He as an Accessibility Consultant for The Paciello Group, a company devoted to accessibility in technology. He maintains a popular blog Juicy Studio in which he’s written many excellent articles and innovative scripts. Gez is a member of the Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force (ATF). He’s become an expert in WAI ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications). You may also follow Gez on Twitter (or Accessible Twitter) @GezLemon.

Related Links

News Links

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conference event podcast review standards twitter

Podcast #69: Recovery.gov Site Review

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

Events

News

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
home page of Recovery.gov