Archive for July 2002

I have checked out Mark Pilgrim’s top-notch Dive Into Accessibility blog entries. He has taken a creative approach in teaching us about creating accesible sites using personas. Mark’s entries are long and thorough, so I didn’t have time to follow it all. Just when you think it can’t get better, the guy goes off to buy a domain name. Get it all in one organized spot, just the way I, a neat freak, like it.

Q114222 – WD2002: What “Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet” Means

Photoshop Contest does full-time what Fark does part-time, post an original photo and lets everyone go wild in modifying the photo. Some are rip-roaring funny and others are a work of art. [Link Lockergnome]

Saint Francis Medical Center has several PDA tutorials for those in the medical profession. However, there is a brief What is a PDA? tutorial. [Link ShiftedLibrarian]

I have posted a book review of Constructing Accessible Web Sites from the folks at glasshaus. Texas-sized thumbs up.

My name-twin, Meryl, is participating in the Blogathon. Go show her support. We’re cheering her on!

With many sites overlooking the simple ALT in images, it’s no question that many need educating on this important topic. Statistics shows that 15 to 30 percent of the population has a need for accessibility features on Web sites. Happily, people live longer and aging brings seeing and hearing challenges. Furthermore, seniors are responsible for over 25 percent of online purchases, neglecting this group can be costly to the company that abandons them. The number shoots up to 40 percent when including people over the age of 40.

CEOs, CIOs, C-level whatevers, managers, designers, programmers, and anyone else who has a hand in a Web site will benefit from the book. Not only does it cover the how, but also the whats and whys by saying, “This is why we should do this and this is how to do it.” Upper level management can reap the rewards from the information on the Web accessibility laws, guidelines, reasons for creating accessible sites, and the accessibility organization strategy. If an executive wants to reach far and wide, then she can get that by reading and applying the knowledge found in the book. One unique chapter explains how to structure an organization to handle and support accessibility issues, a rarely addressed topic in the world of Web accessibility. The Internet has opened the gates for businesses to go global and there’s information about the laws from countries other than the US.

Designers and programmers get the tools and resources for creating, evaluating, and validating pages for accessibility compliance. Useful is a comparison and report card on Web design software explaining how each program meets or fails to meet in producing accessible code and features. The book echoes the latest cry in the world of Web design in encouraging designers to separate content from presentation.

Having an accessible Web site doesn’t mean boring looking pages with nothing but text. Quite the contrary, the authors encourage creating well-design sites while keeping accessibility in mind.

As one who has written articles on Web design, the book offers insight into techniques that I hadn’t encountered. With multiple authors, readers are assured they’re hearing from the experts on each chapter topic. One notable expert is Bob Regan of Macromedia who discusses the tools and techniques of using Flash MX to make a site accessible. Any site that wants to be successful and reach the greatest number of people will invest in creating an accessible site. This well-rounded book covers it all from laws to code to help ensure the site does it right.

VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Constructing Accessible Web Sites
AUTHORS: by Jim Thatcher, Cynthia Waddell, Shawn Henry, Sarah Swierenga, Mark Urban, Michael Burks, Bob Regan, Paul Bohman
PUBLISHER: glasshaus
PUBLICATION DATE: April 2002
ISBN: 1904151000
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 400
PRICE: US$49.99

I have a vision and it’s telling me that Webvisions is going to be an awesome event in beautiful Portland. Enough of that psychic-babble. Seriously, WebVisions 2002 has an impressive list of speakers including Born Magazine founder, Gabe Kean and Adaptive Path IA and author of upcoming book, The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett. OK, boss, did I do a good job?

I bet this is how Chris celebrates his birthday! He shares his birthday with Stanley Kubrick (hmm), Kate Beckinsdale (same year), Texan Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey (Keyser Soze), Dorothy Hamill (ain’t Chris purty like her?), and more. Let’s see what happened before Mr. Pirillo came along. Ah, NY became the 11th state and Purple Rain premiered.

Happy 29th, Chris! Enjoy many more 29s.

Fark.com ran a 404 contest and the entries are posted. Great for a end of the work week laugh.