Articles and other information about web accessibility
My articles about being hard of hearing on the internet and the review of online videos by TV show Networks have been combined, and edited for reposting at Accessites. I’d like to thank Mel Pedley for her feedback on both the article in question and the redesign of the Web Accessibility Guide.
Read “Online Video Captioning” at Accessites.
"As described in the Web Accessibility Guide the key to Accessible JavaScript is Unobtrusive JavaScript."
JavaScript is not my favorite topic –- I think it’s over used and used badly by people who should know better. There are so many ways badly implemented JavaScript can cause problems for both users and search engines alike that I often feel that it’s better to not use it at all.
Continue reading: Accessible JavaScript = Unobtrusive JavaScript
"The site isn't going to do anyone any good if the visitor – human or search engine spider alike - can't get past the front door."
As with Web Accessibility, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works best when it’s thought of at the beginning of the design process, not after the site has gone up. If a site is going to rank well, it’s because it was designed to. Keywords should be chosen at the same time the content is being written. Page titles, descriptions, and keywords should be written at the same time the pages are created. For the coding of the site it is important to use valid code without unnecessary Flash or JavaScript that make indexing the site difficult, if not impossible.
"When Web Accessibility is mentioned, people tend to focus on how it can help disabled people -- without looking at the bigger picture."
Having a good web site means making sure the site is easy to use and the information easy to find and understand. This can be accomplished with the basics (HTML/XHTML and CSS). JavaScript should only be used where needed, not to just to do tricks that can be annoying at best, or — at worst — make the site impossible to use without it. Dynamic sites built with PHP or ASP, and databases have their places; but it’s still important that the site be easy to use and maintain.
Note: This is the end of the usable page. The image(s) below are preloaded for performance only.
