Cre8asite Forums, where I’m a moderator, is a community which always puts usability at the top of the totem pole. Although perhaps principally known as a search engine marketing resource, the members of the forum consistently take usability into consideration whenever possible. This has popped up a couple times recently — first, Kim Krause Berg, the owner/founder of Cre8asite and sole proprietor of the usability consultancy The Usability Effect, was asked about her focus on usability by Mike McDonald of […]
Continue reading “Why Usability Belongs At the Top” »Category: Accessibility
Where’s WCAG 2?
By which I mean, what is currently going on in the world of the next generation of web content accessibility guidelines? It’s been almost a year since I wrote on the feelings against WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2 when it was initially bumped to a “Last Call Working Draft” — so it’s worth addressing what’s been happening since then. First of all, WCAG 2 is still in the “Last Call Working Draft” stage, according to the Web Accessibility Initiative. […]
Continue reading “Where’s WCAG 2?” »Amazon.com working with the National Federation of the Blind
In a press release on March 28th, Amazon announced that they will be working with the National Federation of the Blind to promote and improve accessibility in web technology. This is a valuable step, since Amazon.com itself has been rather a poster child for the lack of accessibility in e-commerce. It’s also worth noting that Amazon powers the technology behind the Target website which is currently the focus of a National Federation of the Blind sponsored lawsuit. The services powered […]
Continue reading “Amazon.com working with the National Federation of the Blind” »IBM Building Accessible Multimedia Browser
IBM, a company which has long had a strong commitment to accessibility, is in the final stages of developing a new accessible web browsing product with a focus on multimedia. From “IBM Helps Blind ‘See’ Video, BBC News: Using the A-Browser, a vision-impaired person can control media content by using predefined shortcut keys, rather than having to look for the control buttons using a mouse. The browser also allows video to be slowed down, speeded up and can accommodate an […]
Continue reading “IBM Building Accessible Multimedia Browser” »What is Web Universality?
The idea that the web can be universally accessed is sometimes called universality. It essentially means that information online can be accessed (not necessarily used or understood) via whatever devices or access tool a user has available to them, regardless of bandwidth; older devices; mobile devices; non-visual devices. No element of the online document should depend entirely on a medium: they should make allowances for alternate means of access. In principal, this concept relates very closely to web accessibility. Part […]
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