#350

Topics: User Science: Accessibility

Tips on making your site available to every device: from Palm Pilots and web-enabled cell phones to screen readers, text browsers, and alternative browsers and devices. WAI in on WCAG. Accessibility via web standards and also via Flash and PDF. Yes, you heard right. Advanced techniques and basics. Experiments and controversies. (54 articles)

The Accessibility of WAI-ARIA

by Detlev Fischer

Issue 319November 30, 2010

Web developers interested in accessibility issues often look to WAI-ARIA to bridge the accessibility gap created by ubiquitous scripting and make web applications more accessible to blind and visually impaired users. But can we recommend WAI-ARIA without reservation? Are there times when appropriate semantic HTML elements are preferable to custom widgets?

ARIA and Progressive Enhancement

by Derek Featherstone

Issue 319November 30, 2010

For seven years, progressive enhancement has been how we build sustainable, interoperable, and accessible web solutions. Now that the release of ARIA is approaching, let’s see how ARIA fits within progressive enhancement strategy. Can we use ARIA in a way that respects progressive enhancement? Can we use ARIA in ways that ensure we have a working solution at every level?

Contrast is King

by Leslie Jensen-Inman

Issue 303March 30, 2010

Being colorblind doesn’t mean not seeing color. It means seeing it differently. If colorblindness challenges the colorblind, it also challenges designers. Some of us think designing sites that are colorblind-friendly means sticking with black and white, or close to it. But the opposite is true. Using contrast effectively not only differentiates our site’s design from others, it’s the essential ingredient that can make our content accessible to every viewer, including the colorblind. By understanding contrast, we can create websites that unabashedly revel in color.

Accent Folding for Auto-Complete

by Carlos Bueno

Issue 301February 23, 2010

Another generation of technology has passed and Unicode support is almost everywhere. The next step is to write software that is not just “internationalized” but truly multilingual. In this article we will skip through a bit of history and theory, then illustrate a neat hack called accent-folding. Accent-folding has its limitations but it can help make some important yet overlooked user interactions work better.

The Inclusion Principle

by Margit Link-Rodrigue

Issue 288July 21, 2009

To make accessible design an organic element of front-end development, we must free our thinking from the constraints we associate with accessible design and embrace the inclusion principle. Margit Link-Rodrigue tells us how.

This is How the Web Gets Regulated

by Joe Clark

Issue 272November 18, 2008

As in finance, so on the web: self-regulation has failed. Nearly ten years after specifications first required it, video captioning can barely be said to exist on the web. The big players, while swollen with self-congratulation, are technically incompetent, and nobody else is even trying. So what will it take to support the human and legal rights of hearing impaired web users? It just might take the law, says Joe Clark.

Deafness and the User Experience

by Lisa Herrod

Issue 265August 12, 2008

Because of limited awareness around Deafness and accessibility in the web community, it seems plausible to many of us that good captioning will fix it all. It won’t. Before we can enhance the user experience for all deaf people, we must understand that the needs of deaf, hard of hearing, and big-D Deaf users are often very different.

Accessible Data Visualization with Web Standards

by Wilson Miner

Issue 256April 8, 2008

When designing interfaces for browsing data-driven sites, creating navigation elements that are also visualization tools helps the user make better decisions. Wilson Miner demonstrates three techniques for incorporating data visualization into standards-based navigation patterns.

Findability, Orphan of the Web Design Industry

by Aarron Walter

Issue 255March 25, 2008

Findability is to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as "web standards" is to "table layouts." In a web whose vastness exceeds comprehension, sites with findable content win. The good news is that everyone on your team can help make your site findable. Get a taste for this essential discipline from Aarron Walter, author of Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond.

Graceful E-Mail Obfuscation

by Roel Van Gils

Issue 248November 6, 2007

Hide e-mail addresses from spam bots while revealing them to readers as real, clickable links. This transparent and fully automated solution guarantees that all addresses on your site will be safe—even the ones that show up in blog comments!

Put Your Content in my Pocket, Part II

by Craig Hockenberry

Issue 245September 11, 2007

Screen size matters. And now that Apple is embedding mobile Safari in more iPods than the iPhone alone, it matters even more. Concluding his remarkable two-part series, Craig Hockenberry covers the down and dirty details of designing and coding with the iPhone (and its brethren) in mind.

Testability Costs Too Much

by Gian Sampson-Wild

Issue 240June 26, 2007

Testability: friend or foe? Gian Sampson-Wild takes a close look at one of the features of the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Accessible Web 2.0 Applications with WAI-ARIA

by Martin Kliehm

Issue 235April 9, 2007

Our web applications can suffer from inaccessibility problems due to inherent markup limitations. Martin Kliehm helps us sort through the WAI specs for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) to increase usability.

Making Compact Forms More Accessible

by Mike Brittain

Issue 229December 19, 2006

Space constraints can put the squeeze on accessibility and usability. Mike Brittain shares his method for making itty-bitty forms more accessible and easier to use.

Working with Others: Accessibility and User Research

by Maurizio Boscarol

Issue 225October 9, 2006

Could accessibility guidelines and practices be improved by greater emphasis on user research? Maurizio Boscarol thinks the answer is probably "yes."

Prettier Accessible Forms

by Nick Rigby

Issue 218June 20, 2006

Forms are a pain. You can make them pretty, make them accessible, or go a little crazy trying to achieve both. Nick Rigby offers a happy solution.

To Hell with WCAG 2

by Joe Clark

Issue 217May 23, 2006

The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are about to be updated for the first time since 1999. Joe Clark takes a close look at WCAG 2 and reports back.

World Grows Small: Open Standards for the Global Web

by Molly E. Holzschlag

Issue 217May 23, 2006

Molly Holzschlag explains how the practices you already use to create standards-based, accessible websites can serve you in the growing field of internationalization.

A More Accessible Map

by Seth Duffey

Issue 215April 18, 2006

Nifty web maps powered by Google and Yahoo! APIs are all the rage. And rage is what a visually impaired user may feel when trying to use them. Is there a way to make beautiful web maps accessible? In a word, yes.

The Accessibility Hat Trick: Getting Abbreviations Right

by Colin Lieberman

Issue 210January 16, 2006

The acronym element is missing in XHTML 2.0. Internet Explorer 6 ignores the abbr element. JAWS doesn't like dfn. AAA-level compliance requires you to find a solution. Make it work.

High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization

by Andy Hagans

Issue 207November 8, 2005

It's no coincidence that search engines love highly accessible websites; in fact, by designing for accessibility, you're already using effective search-engine optimization techniques. Andy Hagans explains yet another reason to pay attention to accessibility.

Big, Stark & Chunky

by Joe Clark

Issue 191January 11, 2005

You’ve designed for the screen and made provision for blind, handheld, and PDA browser users. But what about low-vision people? Powered by CSS, “zoom” layouts convert wide, multicolumn web pages into low-vision-friendly, single column designs. Accessibility maven Joe Clark explores the rationale and methods behind zoom layouts. Board the zoom train now!

Invasion of the Body Switchers

by Andy Clarke, James Edwards

Issue 189November 19, 2004

Wouldn’t it be great if we could update the classic ALA style switcher to accommodate multiple users and devices, including some that aren’t even traditional browsers, all from a single JavaScript and CSS file? Well, now we can! Enter the Body Switcher.

Facts and Opinions About PDF Accessibility

by Joe Clark

Issue 201August 22, 2005

PDF accessibility is not as straightforward as HTML accessibility. But it can be done, if you put the same care into marking up your PDFs that you put into marking up websites.

Pocket-Sized Design: Taking Your Website to the Small Screen

by Elika Etemad, Jorunn D. Newth

Issue 187August 31, 2004

Among the many websites that are out there, few are standards-compliant. Among those few, only a handful sport style sheets adjusted to the needs of handheld devices. Of those which do offer styling for handhelds, not all will fit the smallest, lowest-resolution screens without presenting the user with the ultimate handheld horror: namely, horizontal scrolling. This article presents a set of general suggestions for creating a handheld-friendly style sheet that works well even on handheld screens no wider than 120px.

Dynamic Text Replacement

by Stewart Rosenberger

Issue 183June 15, 2004

Let your server do the walking! Whether you’re replacing one headline or a thousand, Stewart Rosenberger’s Dynamic Text Replacement automatically swaps XHTML text with an image of that text, consistently displayed in any font you own. The markup is clean, semantic, and accessible. No CSS hacks are required, and you needn’t open Photoshop or any other image editor. Read about it today; use it on personal and commercial web projects tomorrow.

Print It Your Way

by Derek Featherstone

Issue 182May 21, 2004

Because ALA’s readers are web users as well as designers and developers, we offer this tidbit from Derek Featherstone on creating user stylesheets to print articles to your own specifications.

What Is Web Accessibility?

by Trenton Moss

Issue 179April 30, 2004

While the methods we use to create accessible websites can be complex, the essential principles are simple: consider the obstacles your site presents to users who approach it differently than you do, then remove as many of those obstacles as you can. Trenton Moss provides a quick overview.

Let Them Eat Cake

by Aaron Gustafson

Issue 177April 16, 2004

A growing debate pits accessibility against usability. From our point of view, it’s like pitting peanut butter against jelly. This article helps you create a page that is both usable and accessible, saving readers the trouble of scrolling with a little help from JavaScript and the Document Object Model.

Web Accessibility and UK Law: Telling It Like It Is

by Trenton Moss

Issue 176April 9, 2004

There’s been widespread speculation about the new legislation being introduced in the UK, which is intended to ensure that websites are accessible to people with disabilities. This article examines how these new laws will affect the way you design in the real world.

Power To The People: Relative Font Sizes

by Bojan Mihelac

Issue 176April 9, 2004

Relative font sizes may make websites more accessible — but they’re not much help unless the person using the site can find a way to actually change text size. Return control to your audience using this simple, drop-in solution.

Accessible Pop-up Links

by Caio Chassot

Issue 174March 19, 2004

Sometimes we have to use pop-ups — so we might as well do them right. This article will show you how to make them more accessible and reliable while simplifying their implementation.

Retooling Slashdot with Web Standards Part II

by Daniel M. Frommelt

Issue 165December 4, 2003

In Part I, we showed how Slashdot could save money and reduce bandwidth requirements by converting to semantic XHTML markup and CSS layout. In Part II, we explore how standards-compliant markup and deft use of CSS could make Slashdot and your sites play nicely in print and on handheld devices.

Retooling Slashdot with Web Standards

by Daniel M. Frommelt

Issue 164November 21, 2003

A look at the markup behind Slashdot.org demonstrates how simple and cost-effective the switch to a standards-compliant Slashdot could be. (Part I of a two-part series.)

How to Save Web Accessibility from Itself

by Joe Clark

Issue 163November 14, 2003

An upcoming revision to the Web Accessibility Guidelines is in danger of becoming unrealistically divorced from real-world web development, yielding guidelines that are at once too vague and too specific. Your expertise and input can help create realistic guidelines that work.

Suckerfish Dropdowns

by Patrick Griffiths, Dan Webb

Issue 162November 7, 2003

Teach your smart little menus to do the DHTML dropdown dance without sacrificing semantics, accessibility, or standards compliance or writing clunky code.

Facts and Opinion About Fahrner Image Replacement

by Joe Clark

Issue 160October 20, 2003

Fahrner Image Replacement and its analogues aim to combine the benefits of high design with the requirements of accessibility. But how well do these methods really work? Accessibility expert Joe Clark digs up much-needed empirical data on how FIR works (and doesn’t) in leading screen readers.

Accesskeys: Unlocking Hidden Navigation

by Stuart Robertson

Issue 158June 16, 2003

Your favorite applications have shortcut keys. So can your site, thanks to the XHTML accesskey attribute. Accesskeys make sites more accessible for people who cannot use a mouse. Unfortunately, almost no designer uses accesskeys, because, unless they View Source, most visitors can’t tell that you’ve put these nifty navigational shortcuts to work on your site. In this issue, Stuart Robertson unlocks the secret of providing visible accesskey shortcuts.

Flash MX: Moving Toward Accessible Rich Media

by Andrew Kirkpatrick

Issue 143April 26, 2002

Andrew Kirkpatrick of the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media tackles Flash MX from the developer’s perspective, showing how authors can more easily generate accessible Flash content, and where roadblocks remain.

Flash MX: Clarifying the Concept

by Joe Clark

Issue 143April 26, 2002

In a detailed survey, accessibility obsessive Joe Clark evaluates Flash MX (authoring tool and player) in the context of the often confusing WAI and Section 508 guidelines, finds some things to cheer about, and draws a roadmap for future improvements.

Accessibility, Web Standards, and Authoring Tools

by Christopher Schmitt

Issue 141March 22, 2002

With the advent of more compliant web browsers, the quest for standards shifts to the tools pros use to build sites. Christopher Schmitt spoke with Adobe and Macromedia for the low-down on web standards, accessibility, and authoring tools.

A Backward Compatible Style Switcher

by Daniel Ludwin

Issue 136February 8, 2002

You asked for it, you’ve got it: an Open Source alternate style sheet switcher that actually works in Netscape 4. No, really. Daniel Ludwin shows how it’s done.

Why Don’t You Code for Netscape?

by Jeffrey Zeldman

Issue 129December 7, 2001

Long considered the Holy Grail of web design, “backward compatibility” has its place; but at this point in web development history, shouldn’t we be more concerned about forward compatibility? ALA makes the case for authoring to web standards instead of browser quirks.

CSS Talking Points: Selling Clients on Web Standards

by Greg Kise

Issue 116July 6, 2001

Selling your clients on standards-compliant design doesn’t have to hurt. Kise's four-point CSS Selling Plan helps the medicine go down.

All the Access Money Can Buy

by Joe Clark

Issue 115July 22, 2001

Just when you think online multimedia will never be truly access, someone proves you wrong. In BMW Films, Clark sees a tantalizing glimpse of a better web.

SMIL When You Play That

by Jeffrey Zeldman

Issue 101March 16, 2001

A gentle introduction to the SVG and SMIL standards for programmable vector graphics and accessible rich media.

From Table Hacks to CSS Layout: A Web Designer’s Journey

by Jeffrey Zeldman

Issue 99February 16, 2001

Redesigning A List Apart using CSS should have been easy. It wasn’t. The first problem was understanding how CSS actually works. The second was getting it to work in standards-compliant browsers. A journey of discovery.

To Hell With Bad Browsers

by Jeffrey Zeldman

Issue 99February 16, 2001

In a year or two, all sites will be designed with standards that separate structure from presentation (or they will be built with Flash 7). We can watch our skills grow obsolete, or start learning standards-based techniques. In fact, since the latest versions of IE, Navigator, and Opera already support many web standards, if we are willing to let go of the notion that backward compatibility is a virtue, we can stop making excuses and start using these standards now. At ALA, beginning with Issue No. 99, we've done just that. Join us.

This HTML Kills: Thoughts on Web Accessibility

by Jim Byrne

Issue 98February 9, 2001

Activist Jim Byrne sounds off on the importance of web accessibility, and the difficulty of doing it right.

Accessibility: the Politics of Design

by Alan Herrell

Issue 94January 10, 2001

Herrell deconstructs the new U.S. accessibility regulations and their implications for web designers everywhere.

Flash Access:  Unclear on the Concept

by Joe Clark

Issue 90December 1, 2000

Accessible Flash looks great on paper. But can Macromedia really pull it off? And do enough designers care? Joe Clark offers insight into Macromedia’s press release and poses questions for Macromedia to consider.

Daemon Skins: Separating Presentation from Content

by Mark Newhouse

Issue 87November 3, 2000

There ’s more than one way to skin a website. Newhouse demonstrates creative scripting techniques that give viewers and designers the control they crave.

A Dao of Web Design

by John Allsopp

Issue 58April 7, 2000

Web designers often bemoan the malleable nature of the web, which seems to defy our efforts at strict control over layout and typography. But maybe the problem is not the web. Maybe the problem is us. John Allsopp looks at web design through the prism of the Tao Te Ching, and decides that designers should let the web be the web.

*Can’t find what you’re looking for? View all topics and subtopics »