Is Your Website Accessible?
"Accessible" means usable to a wide range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning difficulties, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech difficulties, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Following these guidelines will also make your Web content more accessible to the vast majority of users, including older users. It will also enable people to access Web content using many different devices - including a wide variety of assistive technologies."
Recommended Reading
The Neglect of the Visually Impaired in Local Council Web Design
Posted under: WCAG
By: Robin Christopherson, Head of Digital Inclusion at disability and e-Accessibility charity, AbilityNet
Published: Thursday, July 11, 2013
Building in awareness is the only way to ensure web accessibility continues to go, writes Robin Christopherson of charity, AbilityNet, which promotes the inclusion of disabled people on the web.
The Neglect of the Visually Impaired in Local Council Web Design- Full Article
Making the Web Accessible to People With Disabilities is the Right Thing to Do
Posted under: Articles
For a business, it can also mean added revenue and protection from lawsuits.
11 March 2013
GENEVA (ILO News) – For most of us, surfing the Web has become almost second nature. But for millions of people with disabilities, the Internet remains inhospitable territory.
Making the Web Accessible to People With Disabilities is the Right Thing to Do- Full Article
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Approved as ISO/IEC International Standard
Posted under: WCAG
15 October 2012
Today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Joint Technical Committee JTC 1, Information Technology of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), announced approval of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as an ISO/IEC International Standard (ISO/IEC 40500:2012).
5 Reasons Businesses Should Take Web Accessibility Seriously
Posted under: Articles
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
by Philip J Reed
Too many businesses make the mistake of dismissing web accessibility as irrelevant, but the assumption that accessibility issues concern only a small segment of would-be customers is a potentially profit-damaging misstep.
5 Reasons Businesses Should Take Web Accessibility Seriously- Full Article
The Benefits of User Testing with Disabled Users
Posted under: Articles
Jul 06 2012
by Richard
Disabled users are users.
This might seem like a straightforward or even a trite statement, but its a point worth making since Usability (or UX – User Experience) is a growing field which has the fantastic goal (and one very close to my heart) of making websites, or pretty much you interact with, less annoying, more intuitive and generally just work better. Usability, however, is rarely seen by its experts as being linked to the accessibility concerns of disabled users.
The Benefits of User Testing with Disabled Users- Full Article
Screen Reader User Survey #4 Results
Posted under: Articles
In May 2012, WebAIM conducted a survey of preferences of screen reader users. We received 1782 valid responses to this survey. This was a follow-up survey to the original WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey of January 2009 and the follow-up surveys from October 2009 and December 2010.
Read more at
http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey4/?goback=%2Egde_2484780_member_120522872
Writing Good Link Text
Posted under: WCAG
Originally written 28th November 2011 by Léonie Watson
Links are like sign posts. They should tell you what you’ll find when you follow them. Writing good link text isn’t difficult, but there are a few things to be aware of when you do.
Writing Good Link Text- Full Article
Thoughts on a Society of Accessibility Professionals
Posted under: Articles
Léonie Watson writes from her perspective as director of accessibility at Nomensa (a UK-based Web design and development
firm)
April 2012
Léonie Watson
There is a strong esprit de corps amongst the people who work in accessibility. It’s founded on the belief that the digital
world should be more inclusive, and it’s tempered by the shared experiences of championing that belief.
Thoughts on a Society of Accessibility Professionals- Full Article
Screen Reader User Survey
Posted under: Articles
The following survey is a follow-up to the original WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey, and follow-up surveys in September 2009 and December 2010. This survey is primarily intended to collect new information and track updates/trends from previous surveys. By completing this survey you will help inform development choices for those creating accessible web content and web standards. All screen reader users, even those who use screen readers only for evaluation and testing, are invited to participate.
The survey will remain open through May 25, 2012.
Read more at
http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey4/
Web Accessibility Myths – A Call for Accessibility Advocates to be More Business-Minded
Posted under: Articles
By Professor Jonathan Hassell
As nothing stays still on the web, and many of these blogs are rather old (other than Ian Pouncey’s great blog earlier this year), it’s important that our understanding of accessibility myths moves on too…