Category: Accessibility

Describing a Semantic Calendar

Part of building an accessible website is making meaningful choices in the code you use to markup your content. In some cases, this is a very easy decision: <p> descrbes a paragraph, <blockquote> describes a blocked quote, and <acronym> describes an acronym. No problems. But some issues are more complex: take the calendar. What is the logical structure of a calendar? Is it tabular data? Is it an ordered list? Is it a definition list? All of these are completely […]

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Trying to Define Web Accessibility

Numerous articles in the last few days have suggested serious problems in either defining web accessibility or in the way it’s handled. Trenton Moss considers the future of accessibility. Alastair Campbell follows up with his own opinions. Gez Lemon and Mike Cherim co-published an article outlining two supposedly opposing views of accessibility at Accessites. Roger Johansson chimed in with his reasoning for universality. And, to cap if off, Mike Davies wrote an excellent (if possibly inflammatory) four-part series declaring Accessibility […]

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Is Legally Mandated Accessibility a Benefit?

September 18, 2006

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Topics: Accessibility, Law.

Although I’m an enthusiastic supporter of the principles of accessibility, the practical definition is challenging to really pin down. Given the widely criticized WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 and the sometimes questionable expectations of Section 508 accessibility guidelines, I’m have to wonder whether a legal accessibility requirement is really practical. The problem is, to a degree, in the fact that in order to enforceable, the law would have to be very precise about what constitutes "web accessibility". Since experienced […]

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Jack Pickard Knows his Alphabet

September 12, 2006

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Topics: Accessibility.

Jack Pickard, a fellow volunteer reviewer for Accessites, has just published a really fantastic article at A List Apart. One major accessibility related item for each letter of the alphabet. But the real greatness of the article is the light-hearted humor and banter – a few jokes which may go over the heads of anybody not involved in the world of web standards and accessibility, but plenty of quotables, such as: Many standardistas therefore tell you that you should use […]

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