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Web Axe - Practical Web Design Accessibility Tips - Podcast and Blog

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Practical web design accessibility tips. Podcast and blog with tips and techniques for creating accessible web sites.
URL: http://webaxe.blogspot.com/
Updated: 1 hour 22 min ago

Web Accessibility Conferences in 2010

Tue, 03/09/2010 - 16:09
Here are some web accessibility conferences this year, 2010. Details for some of the annual events are not announced yet. Please comment with any changes, additions, and comments.

ATIA 2010 Orlando
January 28 - 30, 2010
Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort & Convention Center
Orlando, FL

California Web Accessibility Conference (CalWAC) (Knowbility)
February 8 - 10, 2010, Santa Clara, CA

Techshare India 2010
15th - 16th February 2010
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference
March 22-27, 2010
San Diego, CA
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel

W4A 2010
7th International Cross Disciplinary Conference in Web Accessibility
April 26-27, 2010
Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Hosted by North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Illinois Web Accessibility Conference and Expo (Jon Gunderson)

The John Slatin Access U (from Knowbility)
Monday, May 10th and Tuesday, May 11th , 2010
St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas

Penn State Web 2010 Conference
June 7 and 8, 2010
Penn State Conference Center
Keynote by Jeffrey Zeldman

ACCESS-IT Seminar (hosted by AbilityNet)

HighEdWeb (Higher Education Web Professionals)
October 10-13, 2010
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.

Assets 2010
The 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
October 25-27, 2010
Orlando, Florida

Accessing Higher Ground
Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference
November 15-19, 2010
Westminster, Colorado, U.S.A.

ICCHP
12th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
July 14-16, 2010, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Pre-Conference July 12-13, 2010

AHEAD: Association on Higher Education And Disability
July 12-17
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

An Event Apart
  • Seattle, April 5-7
  • Boston, May 24-25
  • Minneapolis, July 26-27
  • Washington, D.C., September 16-17
Addendum:Annual Assistive Technology Conference
July 29 & 30
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.

4th European eAccessibility Forum (Paris)

Power Up 2010 Conference and Expo
April 26 and 27, 2010
Holiday Inn Select, Columbia, Missouri
presented by Missouri Assistive Technology

Featured vendor:
Mangoco.com: web design company in Virginia


Podcast #79: CSUN 2010 Preview

Sat, 03/06/2010 - 12:26

Dennis and guest Jennison Asuncion discuss the upcoming CSUN conference, formally titled The 25th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference. Discussion includes helpful hints about the conference, session previews, and special events. The event is March 22-27 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Diego, California.

Download Web Axe Episode 79 (CSUN 2010 Preview)

[transcript of podcast 79]

Related Links:


Winter Olympics Web Site Not Accessible

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 09:28
On February 12, Jebswebs and I twittered that the Vancouver Winter Olympics web site is not accessible. Jebswebs reported 58 errors on the home page alone using the WAVE tool. (View the re-tweet from Jennison.) I listed examples such as several navigation issues and Flash and JavaScript issues.

Ten days later, Joe Clark published an excellent article Vancouver Olympics Web sites are inaccessible to disabled people. He first points out that John Furlong (CEO of VANOC) broke a promise to make the web site accessible. (Even after a a blind man in Australia won a human-rights case against the Sydney Olympic organizing committee and IBM for an inaccessible web site.) Joe provides a report on the inaccessible content and also publishes responses from the VANOC and his replies.



It doesn't take an expert to find areas where the Winter Olympics site needs improvement. Even for alternative text, one of the most basic and important guidelines for web accessibility, the site is lacking. This includes inadequate alternative text for Flash content and the fact that many images do not have alternate text.

In addition, the following points are for navigation only!
  • Dropdown menus require JavaScript.
  • Redundant title attributes
  • No skip-to links
  • No focus state on links (only mouse-over)
  • No ARIA
  • No menu heading
My suggestion for those who need more accessibility? Try Yahoo's Vancouver Winter Olympics coverage. This post is sponsored by: Dedicated Web Server


Podcast #78: Web Accessibility News

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 00:20

Hosts Dennis and Ross discuss a variety of topics.

Download Web Axe Episode 78 (Web Accessibility News)

[transcript of podcast 78] (Much thanks to Joseph Montanez for helping with transcription.)

Announcements News Articles


Twitter Roundup - February 2010

Mon, 03/01/2010 - 11:56
Here are highlights of the many great links relating to web accessibility going around Twitter this past month:


Podcast #75: Jeremy Keith Interview, Google Wave

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 14:44

Ross interviews web guru Jeremy Keith; Dennis and Ross discuss news, articles, and Google Wave.

Download Web Axe Episode 75 (Jeremy Keith Interview, Google Wave)

Chatter News and Links Accessibility Review of Google Wave

Google Wave Preview Accessibility Review by Jared Smith. Jared tactfully explains how web accessibility of Google Wave fails miserably. For example:

  • Alternative text is not provided for any images.
  • Background images are used to convey content.
  • Roles, states, and other accessibility properties are not defined.
  • There is no document or heading structure or semantics.
  • Form elements do not have labels or titles.
  • Keyboard focus indication is hidden, making keyboard navigation nearly impossible.
  • Keyboard focus is often trapped.
  • The application becomes unusable and unreadable when text size is increased only slightly.
Jeremy Keith Interview

Co-host Ross Johnson speaks with Jeremy Keith, Adactio.com, a web standards guru, author, and speaker. Here are some great Jeremy Keith links:

Related Links UPDATEThe podcast was originally cut off by a couple minutes at the end. It is now fixed. Full running time is about 1 hour and 12 minutes.


Podcast #76: Web Accessibility Disasters

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 14:44

Dennis and Ross review web sites which should be great in web accessibility, but fail badly. The hosts provide a lot of constructive criticism, including many fixes that can be done in a minimal amount of time. Issues are also good to discuss as a reminder for our own work.

Download Web Axe Episode 76 (Web Accessibility Disasters)

[transcript of podcast 76]

Transcription provided by Katherine Lynch, a Drupal, Wordpress, and accessibility professional.Chatter Articles Web Site Disasters Digitalaccessibiliy

Company targeting Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

The Good
  • Almost all of the text is marked up in HTML rather than image, flash or other media.
  • Simple, clean design.
The Bad
  • No ALT text on main banner.
  • Font size tool (triple whammy).
  • Underlines not links; links not underlined.
  • Headings not marked up appropriately.
  • Menu missing <ul>
  • List not a list (see Compliance page).
  • Inline / intrusive JavaScript.
Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

A service provided by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). JAN's mission is to facilitate the employment and retention of workers with disabilities by providing employers, employment providers, people with disabilities, and family members with information on job accommodations, entrepreneurship, and related subjects.

The Good
  • Textual navigation; no Javascript based navigation.
  • Has proper ALT text on pictures and JAN and ODEP logos.
The Bad
  • No heading tags; some marked up with bold tag.
  • There is a summary on layout table (double whammy).
  • No skip nav or skip to link provided.
  • Inline javascript. Example: <body onload="P7_ExpMenu()">
  • Non-breaking spacing used for layout.
The Rose Project

Mission is to provide maternal and child healthcare to the economically poor people of Malawi, with particular reference to HIV treatment and care.

One of nine listed for Most Accessible Website in the Irish Web Awards?

The Good
  • XHTML; semantic, clean mark-up
  • Using headings
  • Language is defined (xml:lang="en")
  • SWFobject.js for unobtrusive flash embedding
The Bad
  • When JavaScript is unavailable, Flash replacement image has broken links and placeholder text.
  • Skip links - Skip link doesn't work?
  • 'Find out about ways to give' button.
  • logo missing alt text for tag line.
  • H1 headings should be H2 (such as Featured Project).
  • Some links that should be underlined, are not.
  • Use of <small> tags not recommended.
  • Links lack the default focus effect and outline removed!
    DO NOT do this:
:focus {
outline-color:-moz-use-text-color;
outline-style:none;
outline-width:0;
}


Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 12:06

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


Web Axe in BBC Podcast

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 12:03

The author and main host of Web Axe, Dennis Lembree, is interviewed in a podcast on the BBC! It's in the show entitled Haiti, BIL and accessibility on the BBC Pods & Blogs section. The BBC podcast can be found here, but is only available for seven days as it is then replaced by the following week's program. (The interview starts at about 14 minutes 30 seconds into the podcast.)

The show notes state:

New and social media should not be left out of the equation of course. Dennis Lembree makes the Web Axe podcast about accessibility and has also created a Twitter reader that he says is 100% accessible.

Much of the phone interviewed was edited down, but it's still another win for awareness of web accessibility. In addition to Web Axe, Dennis mentions AccessibleTwitter.com and the Detroit Podcasters Network.

Addendum

Just before Dennis, accessibility expert and evangelist for Yahoo, Artur Ortega is interviewed.

You can download the BBC podcast here! (It's no longer available on the BBC page.)


Podcast #77: Interview with Terrill Thompson

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 11:57

Dennis speaks with Terrill Thompson, technology accessibility specialist at DO-IT, a program at the University of Washington.

Download Web Axe Episode 77 (Interview with Terrill Thompson)

[transcript of podcast 77]

In addition to Terrill's background and DO-IT, topics of discussion include:


Contribute to Twitter Presentation at CSUN10

Wed, 02/24/2010 - 22:20
Twitter And Assistive Tech

Dennis Lembree (@dennisl) and Joseph O'Connor (@csunwebmaster) are presenting "Accessibility of Twitter for Mobile, Desktop and Web" at the 25th Annual International Technology and Persons With Disabilities Conference in San Diego, California. The conference dates are from March 22 to 27. The presentation is scheduled at 8 a.m., Thursday, March 25.

You Can Help!

We are asking you to tweet about using Twitter with assistive tech on two topics:

  • How do you deal with the interfaces?
  • How has Twitter changed things for you?

Optional: audio record the written Tweets at http://twaud.io/ or whatever you want to use. If you do record, please be sure to record what you have written in each Tweet you write. Write a Tweet, record that Tweet. You don't have to record your Tweets to participate.

Accessible Twitter

This might be a good time to try Dennis Lembree's Accessible Twitter site and to Tweet about the experience.

How We'll Use Your Tweets

We will use the Tweets/audio in our #csun10 presentation. We'll present the Tweets on screen and hear the words - something for everyone. We'll be looking for patterns such as the use of desktop applications with ZoomText, or mobile text with Talks, or mobile app with VoiceOver. These patterns will be touch-points for our presentation.

Hashtag

The hashtag for these Tweets will be #csun10s with the "s" representing story.

When Do I Start?

The days/dates we'll be collecting Tweets and audio are Friday, February 26 - Saturday, February 27 in the northern hemisphere; Saturday, February 27 - Sunday, February 28 in the southern hemisphere.

Be Creative!

Feel free to be creative, to have fun, to be serious, to be furious, to be whoever you are. You know you want to do it!

NOTE:
This article on Joseph O'Connor's web site Black Telephone


iPad Is Assisitive Technology But No Killer

Mon, 02/22/2010 - 08:00
One may plainly say that Apple's new iPad is an assistive technology device. Like the iPhone, it includes many accessibility features such as:
  • VoiceOver
  • screen zoom
  • white-on-black display
  • mono audio
  • closed-captioned content
But as pointed out in the article Accessibility and the iPad: First Impressions, it additionally has the following helpful features:
  • Large size (for visually impairments)
  • External Keyboard (for mobile impairments)
  • Speakers (for visually impairments)
  • Simple Interface (for cognitive impairments)
Although I feel that the iPad is certainly better than Amazons' Kindle, I believe that the iPad will not "kill" the Kindle, mostly because of the price difference. The iPad is much more expensive ranging from $499 to $699 while the Kindle is $259. For more on this, check out Apple Tablet Could Be A Kindle Killer.
More Related Articles This post is sponsored by: Hosted Exchange


EASI Webinar: Twitter And Web Accessibility

Mon, 02/22/2010 - 07:59
On the first of February, Web Axe host Dennis Lembree gave a live webinar presentation "Twitter, Its Uses and Its Accessibility Issues" as part of the EASI Social Media Series. In addition to Twitter, the 4-part series covers Second Life, Facebook and YouTube. Here are the slides and an nice HTML version.

Here is the slide presentation embedded from Slideshare:

View more presentations from Web Axe. This post is sponsored by: Web Site Hosting


Twitter Roundup - January

Mon, 02/15/2010 - 19:25
Wow, this first month of 2010 flew by! So much going on in the Twittersphere, as usual. Here's a quick summary of some great articles mentioned in the Twitter accessibility community. Please comment with anything outstanding that I've missed!

Also, on a sad note, we recently mourned the loss of Jack Pickard; a huge loss in the web accessibility community. Jack was a great web accessibility expert and advocate.


More on WebAIM's Screenreader Survey

Sat, 02/06/2010 - 14:24
WebAIM's Screen Reader Survey a few months ago (October 2009) sure drew a lot of attention, and for good reason. It is a much needed and well written survey, performed by one of the leading organizations in web accessibility, WebAIM. Here are some articles written in response to the survey. If you know any others, please leave a comment and let us know!
Related Articles My Observations Some of the more outstanding results of the survey I believe are:
  • 75% of respondents said they do NOT have JavaScript turned off (most had it on).
  • The most problematic items seem to be the same predictable items, unfortunately. The top 10 includes CAPTCHA, Flash, alternative text, forms, and headings.
  • 42% surveyed said they didn't know ARIA Landmarks for navigation existed. I highly suspect this number will steadily decrease.
  • Although over 66% of users reported JAWS as their primary screen reader, almost half said that free or low-cost screen readers (such as NVDA or VoiceOver) are currently viable alternatives.
This post is sponsored by: Web hosting at Hosting.com


2009 in Review

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 13:32

Wow, what a year! Too many topics to mention, but highlights include the growing usage of ARIA, Google's good and bad, another screen reader survey by WebAIM, and the launch of Accessible Twitter! Below is a brief summary of this year's happenings on Web Axe and elsewhere; please comment on anything I've missed, which I'm sure is a lot. Cheers to a great 2010!

Also, I want to say how proud I am to be a part of the wonderful web accessibility community which has grown larger and more intimate through conferences and "Web 2.0" tools, especially Twitter. -Dennis

Web Axe Podcast Highlights Web Axe Blog Highlights From WebAIM More Google E-Books Great Tips Awareness & Victor
Victor Tsaran of Yahoo is now a "web celeb" after numerous articles appeared about him and Yahoo's accessibility lab. Great web accessibility awareness! Here are a few of the articles:


Involving Users Early in Web Projects

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 03:37
The W3C article Involving Users in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility gives excellent guidelines for developing accessibility in a web project. The article states:
Involving people with disabilities from the beginning of a project helps you better understand accessibility issues and implement more effective accessibility solutions.In my experience, this couldn't be more true. Nothing is much worse than having to retro-fit an existing web site or web application for web accessibility, or having to explain what assistive technology is to the author of the specifications document. You must plan from the start, and implement at the end (an old Hijax saying). When the different teams on a project understand accessibility, including the developers, it certainly makes the project run much more smoothly and efficiently.

The article discusses the following items in detail:
  • How Involving Users Early Helps
  • How to Involve Users throughout Your Project
  • Getting a Range of Users
  • Working with Users
  • Combine User Involvement with Standards
These techniques can be applied to more than web sites; also assistive technologies, media players, authoring tools, policies, and technical specifications.

For more, here's the W3C blog discussing this article: Discover new ways of thinking about accessibility.


Roundup 2: Accessibility Links on Twitter

Mon, 12/07/2009 - 05:17
There's so many great web accessibility links in the Twittersphere that I felt compelled to do another roundup of resources.


Roundup: Accessibility Links on Twitter

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 11:48

Here's a list of some great links relating to web accessibility going around Twitter last week.