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For the last two weeks I’ve been living an unusually isolated life. Specifically, one without a home internet connection.
Now that you’ve all finished gasping with shock, I’ll continue.
During this time, I’ve learned a lot about how much my normal life style (not just my work, which is naturally web based) is set around internet access. I retrieve almost all the information I normally need during the day through the internet. Restaurant menus, opening and closing times, phone numbers - all retrieved through internet search. If I have curiousity which I simply must satisfy, I’ll query Wikipedia.
But recently I’ve had to survive without that kind of access. I can still go off to cafes and restaurants and access free wireless service with some regularity, thankfully. This makes it at least possible for me to continue with my work. But it’s a lot more awkward.
At any rate, enough whining. Back to the topic at hand.
During this last few days, I’ve worked my through the code I use for a search engine with most of my PHP/MySQL web sites. I’ve documented it moderately thoroughly and written it up. However, lacking internet access, I haven’t really tested this version of it. Hopefully, there are no major mistakes!
If anybody happens to give it their time to look at, I hope you’ll drop me a line and let me know your thoughts. I’m particularly interested in hearing about anybody’s views about improving the security of the script, but will gladly accept comments on usability, functionality, etc.
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Other Resources: Search Marketing
For quite a while now I’ve been using Blogger as my tool of choice for this blog and for other’s sites. I’ve never been very happy with this choice, as the tool has limited options (no organization by categories, for example) and also restricts the designer’s control over the database. Furthermore, tweaking Blogger to provide more-or-less standards-based code is a fair amount of work.
Yet, none of this has been quite sufficient for me to decide to switch. The one thing I do like about Blogger is the single-page template format. I don’t need to edit a bottom section, navigation include, top matter, and content template to put together a design - I can simply compose the design within my own usual text editor and then stick that into Blogger.
I’m not sure why I’ve been so resistant to multiple-page templates - perhaps I’m just too accustomed to developing in my own way, and identifying what some new CMS has decided to call their various includes is too frustrating! Regardless, this is one of my goals for the next few weeks - learn somebody else’s CMS. It’s about time that I delved into something like WordPress or b2evolution.
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One of the challenges in accessible web design is getting feedback from actual users. I know relatively few individuals with low-vision who regularly use screen readers. I know only a few people with handheld web devices - and certainly not enough to cover the entire range of possibilities in that area. This challenge is one of the reasons that web accessibility is so closely tied to web standards. Since most of us can’t test our work "in the field," we have to rely on our intuition, logic, and the fact that a careful adherence to standards will keep us from straying too far from the path.
There are a few places to go for valuable perspectives on these issues. First, and the most commonly used, for me, is the web design community. Interacting with other designers who are struggling with the same issues can provide valuable insights into potential problems which you yourself may not have considered. I belong to one major web forum, Cre8asite Forums, where discussions of standards and device compatibility have provided a lot of help. I’m also a member of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers, an organization committed to accessible web design. This highly focused group regularly considers the complexities of accessibility.
A second option is web accessibility testing. Disregarding the standard testing services for accessibility, Cynthia, WebXACT, and others, there are organizations such as Usability Exchange, a company which provides testing by actual disabled end users, giving you some of the best information you can get. The downside? It’s not free. And it never will be, I imagine. Still, for larger-budget projects it can be a hugely benefical step.
The third choice, is to read about the experiences of disabled users. It can be difficult to find this kind of information outside of lawsuits and news articles. These resources, though valuable, tend not to contain anything more than can be found in any number of online accessibility sources. Recently I’ve become aware of two blogs which can provide good insight: the American Foundation for the Blind and Blind Confidential, the personal blog of Chris Hofstater - a blind programmer heavily involved with the JAWS screen reader. The AFB blog is very general, but sometimes can provide an interesting link or story. Chris Hofstater’s blog, on the other hand, can sometimes provide fantastic insight into the experiences of the blind.
There’s nothing more valuable in accessible web design than getting a good sense for the experiences and frustrations of an actual user. If you can gain insight into the practical difficulties of a website, you’ve made the strongest step towards resolving the accessibility problem.
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