LSW

December 21, 2008

Here are sopme links to documents that were passed to me as references, some of you may fnd them interesting, although generally a few years old.

FINDING GOVERNMENTAL STATISTICAL DATA ON

THE WEB: A CASE STUDY OF FEDSTATS

http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i03/v01i03a01.pdf

THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION DESIGN FOR SMALL

BUSINESS WEB SITES

http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/johnbentley/publications/63BentleyTheimportanceofwebdesignfinal.pdf

HELP! I'M LOST: USER FRUSTRATION IN WEB NAVIGATION (Final)

http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i03/v01i03a02.pdf

USER FRUSTRATION IN WEB NAVIGATION (longer draft version with graphics)

https://drum.umd.edu/dspace/bitstream/1903/1233/1/CS-TR-4409.pdf

EXPANDING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE & FALLING BEHIND ON BROADBAND

http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/digitaldivide.pdf

DOES THE DIGITAL DIVIDE STILL EXIST?

http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/DigitalDivideReport20020530.pdf

An accessibility study of state legislative Web sites

December 21, 2008

In the last year I have been active in a number of big web design oriented forums. My views on web design are known if you know me, this has led to me crossing sabers with many followers of old-school web design. If they do not like what I say they dance over to LSW and attack my design (EDIT: a design no longer in use but used at the time of this writing). No problem there, the design of a web site is based on personal taste and I get more compliments then complaints. But the fact is, the Nr. 1 accusation LSW gets is "The web site is to simplistic" or "Retro 90's". Is that a bad thing?

I personally like simple web sites. I am a busy man, I want to come to a web site, get the info I want and move on. I do not go to look at pretty pictures. What a site looks like does not decide if I return, the content does. Are my web sites simplistic? Yes, and I am proud of it.

So what is modern design if simplistic is old school? Modern web design seems to be when the web site is terribly complicated. People often point to the type of web sites like M$N or news agencies. People point to things like PHPNuke and Mambo CMS. This is what people want and this shows "professional design". Course of you check these sites for accessibility, standards, validation etc. they will likely fall through the floor.

So modern web designs would seem to be what I consider "Jurassic Web Design ":

3 Million links per page. Now fine, BBC, CNN and the likes with really lots of categories and subcategories and news and entertainment and archives and ...and ... and ..., these pages really must be like this. But the average private web site? Small business? Middle business? We do not need every page on the site linked to the home page, that is what the sitemap is for. Do you need to send people away from your site by linking to dozens of affiliates and such things on your home page?
Do you really need to offer a web search? People who go to your site want info from your site, so a site search is good. But just about every browser now has a built in search. Most searchers go to the search engines home page as well. So unless you search filed offers to search your site... does it really offer something that the user needs? Why advertise Google for free?
Boxes, now this is popular isn't it? Lots of boxes holding lots of those 3 million links. Yes it is neat and tidy, but it takes us back to are those links needed? Would a logical step system of categoriesand subcategories not be better than a cluster of subcategories all on the home page?
Clutter, this is really what it comes down too. Modern web design calls for lots of clutter on a page, no white space, no free room. Stuff as much info down our necks as you possiblly can in as small an area as you possiblly can, give us those boxes ...
Just drop logic and plaster junk all over the home page. Offer us stock prices even if your site has nothing to do with stocks or we own none. Give me breaking news when you site is about beer can collecting. Tell me the weather in your part of Canada even though I live in Germany and do not care. Tell me what time it is in Japan. How many days till new year 2007? Tell me what number visitor I am to your site since 1 B.C. as if I care.
Awards, newbies love awards. I should know I used to paste them on my home page too, got the idea from my host at that time who I thought knew what he was doing because he had a "Golden Web Award". Now maybe you have some awards you still think are worth something (I will go into awards in another rant one day). Do you have sport awards or awards that your dog won or your children? Do you plaster these awards on your front door? Or are they in a "Awards room" or "Awards corner" of a room? Well then pace them on a awards page of your site and anyone interested can look at them, do not paste them on the door of your site anymore than you would the door of your house.
Badges, these are about the same as awards, but by this I mean more the Validation badges and such. Validation is easy to muck up, especially when you update pages. Fly a validation badge on a non-validating page looks bad. You page may validate now but what if you change or add something, you have revalidate If your page allows for comments by the readers ...forget validation unless you go through and can edit and correct all the mistakes people make in their comments. Most users do not even know what HTML 4.01 is or why it should validate. Those with disabilities will know right away if your site is Section 508 compliant or not, the rest do not even know what it is or even care.

That is just a few of what modern web design would seem to be in the minds of those who think my site is bad because it is retro 90's as they say. These same people will tell others to remember KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), yet their web sites are far from simple.

I for one live a complicated life in a complicated major city in Europe ..and you know what I long for? The simple life in a small town where you really know your neighbors. Bikers long for simple bikes like the old Harley and Indians. Simple cars like a 65` Mustang are considered classic well built cars against today's cars that will not start if the computer is shot. A old VW Beetle you can change the head lights by hand, today's cars you have to go to a mechanic. Today's fighter jets can not be flown effectively without a computer to run them. How much of your life is lost if your HD crashes on you, but simple paper note books do not crash.

So often these days you hear people saying life is to complicated, people still seem to earn for and respect the simple life. So why should simplistic be bad in web design? Maybe it is time web design goes back to the simple life. Offer new visitors a few lines/paragraphs of text to explain what your site is and then give them a logical navigation to find their way to what they want. Save your awards for a awards page. Who needs badges? You know the site validates and any professionals will see if the code is good or not and the average visitor does not care. Show a few new article summaries, but leave the full article to it's own page. Frees space in not the enemy, it gives the eyes a place to relax and helps limit stress.

Web design like art tends to reflect the times. If our lives are so complicated ... maybe the internet in it's complexity should strive to offer us a haven of simplicity.

I originally wrote this over Christmas 2006. Today in my mail from Builder.com I found a link to a 2004 article by Michael Meadhra that gets a bit more technical then I did here. It is well worth the read. Reduce visual clutter to improve usability

A member here once had a signature that read:

Perfection is not finding something new to add, it is finding nothing else to take away.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 2007 - Going through my mass of bookmarks I have stumbled on one that I offer here as well, Michael Meadhra discusses the need for simplicity in web design in his "Reduce visual clutter to improve usability ."

December 21, 2008

The W3C are known for being vague, often due to trying to please everyone. This vagueness has caused issues in the past as developers understood the specs differently, a good example is IE's showing of the alt attribute as a tooltip and all others browsers understanding it to be only visible when the image is not.

I have seen references before to the

tag and like all beginners did not look into it as it is clear isn't it? You use it to create addresses. Well this is the web and the W3C and not everything is what it seems.

Here are two authorities on the subject:

The ADDRESS element may be used by authors to supply contact information for a document or a major part of a document such as a form. This element often appears at the beginning or end of a document.
- W3C

The
tag defines contact information for a document or a section.

Note: The

tag should NOT be used as describing a postal address, unless it is a part of the contact information.
- W3Schools.com

For me this is fairly clear, but not what I thought as a beginner. The address tag is not for addresses, it is for contact information about the author. If I post this in an ezine for instance, the author information about me with my email and or URL would be the address. I am the contact person and not the newsletter that posts this. KillerSites is not the contact when I post it on their forum. If you have questions, you contact me.

So if you use it for a street or postal address you are clearly wrong.

Or are you?

In a comment section at a SimpleBits' SimpleQuiz from 2004 , some very good comments are to be found (126 in all, but good reading). It became and issue of how best to markup physical addresses and rather than people saying A, B, C or D, may began tweaking the offered solutions.

Comments here are long closed, I was dismayed that it took almost half the comments before someone pointed out the semantics of Address as many were stating simply "A is correct because that is what the tag is there for." Well no, no it isn't, read the specs. It is the contact information on the author. So name, email, URL and such.

Some posters blatantly ignore this but towards the bottom more and more reference it and some begin to point out other ways of seeing it than what I know to be the meaning of Address.

Now the easy to understand has become vague indeed. Let us look again, this time with my highlights:

The ADDRESS element may be used by authors to supply contact information for a document or a major part of a document< such as a form. This element often appears at the beginning or end of a document.
- W3C

Are you seeing what I missed and others saw?

Once again by generously using their favorite word, "may," the W3C's use of it opens the definition to be used and abused in many ways aside from it?s intended use.

Also look at it from a corporate point of view. We looked earlier at me as the author. Now let's say it is a page on a corporate web site. Who is the "contact information for a document or a major part of a document?"

It depends, but it would be either a division or department or the corporation as a whole. So if I have a question or issue with the content who is my contact person? Likely the Public Affairs people for the corporation. How would I contact them? URL and email of course as before, but I may wish to send a letter. Now suddenly a postal address or street address I can visit to speak to someone in person is now fitting snuggly in the definition, especially with that "may" thrown in. A local part of a nationwide chain would not be the owner so the corporate headquarters would be the owner.

Personally, I find that stretching it as this tag is really meant to be directly on each page. So I do not agree with the full address use of the tag, To use it on one page to represent ownership and responsibility for an entire site is not in the spec. The spec clearly states it is "for a document or a major part of a document," meaning singular, as under this theory you need to place the physical address of the company on every page. But I must admit that I can not hotly dispute it because in theory, even stretched theory they are partly right at least and you can liken a web site to a document, like a brochure of many pages.

Another repeated argument is that telephone numbers should not be included, they are not part of the address (usually meaning physical address), but they are however "contact information for a document or a major part of a document" and by that definition better candidates for the address tag than a complete physical or postal address.

So the

tag turns out to be not so simple after all. Like a Mirror you identify way off, when you take a closer look it is a funhouse mirror and depending on what angle you look at the specs for address. It means different things to different people and warps to be seen however you wish to use it like a funhouse mirror warping your reflection depending on the angle you see it. With W3C specs, things are not always what they seem.

December 21, 2008

During some recent accessibility training I was asked what browsers should be tested in and while explaining I discovered that many people do not know how browsers tie together, what ones are for what Operating Systems and what are even common. So here is a explanation of the big 4 and what to watch for in the future.

Firefox - Firefox is the second growing browser, on many sites I run it has in fact taken over the lead spot in statistics. Basically Firefox runs the same on Linux and Mac as it does on windows, so if the site works in windows it will on the others as well, it is the most used browser in Mac and Linux. It is standards compliant.
At one time Netscape was the lead browser, it's code name was Mozilla. Later Mozilla broke away and became it's own project and the Mozilla suite was the basis of Netscape 6. Mozilla began powering Netscape and Mozilla became it's own browser as well. Then they decided that rather than have a bloated app with email, chat and what all else in, they would break each out into it's own module. This gave birth to Firefox Browser, Thunderbird email client and Sunbird Calendar as a few examples. With the final release of Firefox, Mozilla was retired. However Mozilla lives on due to the work of some fans and with Mozilla's support they are continuing to improve it and it is called Seamonkey now.
Gecko is the rendering engine. If you test in Firefox, you can be sure it will work just as well in any gecko client, so Netscape (now retired), Mozilla/Seamonkey and Camino (Mac only).
Opera - Opera has or had a cult following as it was the fastest browser on the market at one time, however i was privately funded and needed to be purchased. It has been free now for a few years still ignored, i will do a separate article on why you should check out Opera. But it has the easiest internal style switching available, first to incorporate a zoom mechanism, first to include spatial navigation, first to include voice command, first to include a mobile view for testing, first to offer a speed dial screen in new tabs... it has been unduly ignored. Opera is standards compliant but does show some things slightly different than other browsers. Opera was also the first browser to pass Acid 3.
Opera is not just a interesting alternative browser, it is the only commercial browser available for mobile use. There is a Firefox version being developed for mobile user agents but Opera has been in use for years along with a lesser known mobile only browser. By testing in Opera with Opera's specialized tools will help insure it is working well for users, opera is also used on many cell phones as well as the Wii when surfing, so odds are good the web site will work better in those tools as well.
Safari - Safari has been around for years and is the Mac in house browser. It is well used in the community but still falls behind Firefox in statistics of Mac users. Safari is standards compliant.
There is now a version of Safari for Windows. Windows users can now install Safari 3 beta on a windows machine and test. There are some oddities between Safari Mac and Safari Windows, more to do with the presentation of Text. But for the most art if it works in one it will work in the other. The presentation may differ slightly, but the functionality is close enough to be sure the site can be used on Mac.
IE - Well what is to be said here, we all pretty well realize the quirks of IE. IE has never been standards friendly. The IE team has spent years trying to create their own standards even thought Microsoft is part of the W3C. IE 6 does not support Standards, IE 7 supports standards somewhat, IE 8 is supposed to support Standards when released. IE7 only works on XP SP2, SP3 and Vista. IE8 will I believe only work on Vista and later. IE6 will work on XP SP1 and anything before. As long as people are unwilling to upgrade, IE6 will be around like a zombie, dead but still attacking & eating our web sites. IE5.5 and below do not even register on most statistics or ring in at less than 1%. They are dead, we have to draw a line somewhere. IE support for Mac ended with IE5.2 and IE no longer supports Mac and never supported Linux.
So IE does it's own thing. What do we do about it? Well traditionally hacks, but hacks are using a browser weakness to do something, if the weakness is then corrected as with IE7, many sites designed with hacks for IE6 broke. So stay away from hacks. Conditional Comments are the way to go. They were created by Microsoft and allow you to pick and choose versions. They are a form of CData comments and If loops. If IE6 do this, if IE7 do that. These are ignored by all other browsers. So it is a form of IE specific sniffing. You can for instance either load different style sheets or just specific commands to overwrite styles in a style sheet. IF IE6, use this H! style rather than the default style... sort of thing.
IE8 is a whole new ball game. IE8 was to launch a poorly thought out plan that was flamed in designer communities. This idea has been named Version Targeting. The idea is simple, a meta tag in the header of every page will tell IE what version of the browser the web site is meant for. IE8 can then choose from multiple rendering engines to show the site as it should be. So you may now be lazy and never update your site, just add the meta and tell it to render as IE6. I am sure laziness will overcome, but it is good for older sites that may have archived material, you need not rewrite everything, just say that that page was written for IE5 years ago and it should render as IE5, that is good, but using it as an excuse not to update a active site is laziness. Another problem is the size, IE8 will have to include multiple rendering engines to render old pages as old browsers... so each version of IE will be more bloated as it's rendering engine is included with all the others. It was poorly thought out because the default was to be IE6, why should IE8 default to IE6? Why should those of us not wishing to use it have to use it to say we do not wish to use it (by telling it to act like what it is IE8). They finally saw the light and have announced that IE8 will default to IE8 standards mode, and you must add the meta tag for anything else. IE8 will still not support XHTML, so there will still be no reason to use it.
JAWS - JAWS is the most common screen reader and hails from Freedom Scientific. It is expensive so you won't be buying one, but the demo version runs for the first 30 minutes after booting your machine and it is not just a browser (actually piggy backs on the browser), it will read anything you do on your operating system as well. Now you can listen to your site, test it in a manner as well. Just remember that yu will not use it as a sighted person the same manner a blind person will. It has a visual pointer that you can move with the mouse and a virtual pointer. It can get problematic if you try to test as a blind user while using the mouse to point at things. So if you are going to use it, use it right. Unplug the mouse and turn off the monitor if you can, close your eyes or sue a blindfold if you can not. Then test your site. It will help you find structural problems, missing alt attributes and even misspellings. Then if you can, get a hold of a Assistive Technologies organization and have them test the site out using real users with disabilities.
Google Chrome - Not yet a contender, but it may become one, especially in mobile units. I personally like this light and simple app and do use t often, but not as my primary browser.

December 21, 2008

21/22 May 2008 I was an instructor at the State of Alaska's first web accessibility Training at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

It was an eye opener.

I have been preaching accessibility for 8 years, most all in theory. But for the first time I was able to watch and speak with a Blind user and the instructor who teaches blind users how to use software such as JAWS. Here are some points worth mentioning.

alt attributes - to a screen reader, it makes no difference if you use alt="" or alt=" ", it means the same, just be sure to use it.
Headers (H1 - H6) are of major importance. Not just semantics, but headers can be and are used all the time by screen reader users to navigate. A structured layout with headers is more efficient for users than a skip link (but please keep offering those too).
Lists - not only are lists a semantically correct form for a menu, and allow us to easily format menus with rollover, focus and hover effects... but lists are the next best for navigation as the screen reader can skip from one list to another navigating the site and the list is announced as being a list with 7 items and then the items are read off. Always use lists for listed items and menus, never use code to make a faux list with bullet symbols as this takes away it usefulness for everyone.
Real screen reader users do so with an amazing speed, I could hardly follow what he was doing at default speed. when he upped it to his normal speed he uses it sounded like some alien in a cartoon played at high speed, I understood nothing.
Screen readers can have other voices downloaded for a price, some as worthless as Wing Dings, "Bob in a hallway," sound like bob in a tin can. Many screen reader users have many voice files and dictate which are used where like on a cell phone. A female may read the site, but a form may be read by a male voice so it indicates aside from the announcements what they are doing.
Refreshable Brail user agents are far more common then I had thought, many blind really prefer them. A 32 character display like we were shown costs around $5,000, it will display half an average sentence. 64 character ones will do a whole sentence, smaller are available that cover just a web words, but are more mobile.
There are portable screen readers about the size of an old walkman. These can be hung around the neck and plugged into any computer and offer earphones for the user. They can be uses without earphones when plugged into the speakers directly. Icon was used by the demonstrator.
Programs like JAWS can be used with JavaScript/Ajax, but with extreme care. Always use DOM and change the DOM on the page on the fly so that the page reflects the current status.
Never set a drop down so that it automatically goes to the focus/highlighted target, Jaws will always go directly to the very first link as that will always be the first with focus and the user is stuck.
Always handle forms with either immediate error handling on the field they are in, or if error handling is later after the form is sent off, the error message must always be the top of the page, otherwise it goes back to the page and starts reading the whole form again and the user does not know why. With the error message topside it is read first "I have found the following errors: Format incorrect in date field", the error statement where the error is can then link to take the user directly to that field rather than have to tab all the way through for each.
If you use Ajax for a page and it constantly refreshes, it interrupts the user. If you type into Goggle search bar and that triggers a list of possible searches, the screen reader will begin to read those, when you add the next letter and the list refreshes, the screen reader starts again at the top, breaking it off where it was in mid word and starting again... fast tippers will get allot of syllables. So be aware of this.
Any time the page itself is refreshed the screen reader will start again at the top, so dom changes should be in the page so the reader starts where you changed the content and not all the way at the top every time.
Forcing new windows will not cause a new instance of the screen reader so two are reading, not in the new generations. However by opening a new window or tab, it steals the focus and the screen reader will stop reading the current content, and begin reading the new content before the old is finished. Allowing the user to choose a new tab gives them control with the reader over what they want to hear.
Screen readers have two pointers. A visual pointer you can see and move with your mouse and a virtual pointer that is controlled by the keyboard that is what the blind use. When testing, disconnect your mouse or you can get lost of the virtual pointer is at one place and the mouse pointer at another.
Test with a Demo. JAWS has a demo that is good for 30 minutes after you boot your computer (it reads everything, OS actions and browser/software actions). You are sighted and will not use it like a blind user will, so it does not mean it is accessible, but turn of your monitor when you can, close your eyes if you can't and unplug the mouse so you use only the keyboard. This will not only give you an idea of the difficulties, but you will hear where you misspelled words, where you have made mistakes, where your text is not as clear as you thought (faux proof reading. your eyes know what you wanted to write, your ears will hear the truth). It is worth testing and even practicing... but remember that you do not use it like a longtime blind user.
You can have a look at a sampling of available Assistive Technology and their prices at www.Enablemart.com

Report · December 21, 2008

It is my hope to find and place articles here that will give you an idea of how those with disabilities "see" and use the web site. So here is the first and I hope to have more to follow.

Surfing Blind by Max Robinson (on visual Impairment)
Staying Focused By Stephanie May (on Text - to - Speech)
Multiple Technologies Clear Obstacles By Jonathan Avila (on being legally blind, while having usable vision)
A Christmas tale about accessible shopping by L?onie Watson is Nomensa's Head of Accessibility and visually impaired.
WebAIM offers an article called "Introduction to Web Accessibility " that includes two videos where people with disabilities are interviewed on camera. The first, "Keeping Web Accessibility in Mind," is a bit long and about accessibility in general. The second, "Experiences of Students with Disabilities," is shorter and exclusively interviews.

Videos

AssistiveWare offers videos of some of the most extreme uses of assistive technologies. Mike, who suffers spinal muscular atrophy plays many video games including first person shooters using a Mac. A woman with ALS controlling her computer with a switch taped to her cheek. A woman with cerebral palsy who uses her computer to do graphic design work. These videos are well worth watching.
Blind Computing - How do we do it? - Cathy Anne, Created a YouTube Video to show how Screen Readers work. 6 min.
Web Accessibility - through the "eyes" of a screen reader - YouTube video highlighting the importance of Skip Links descriptive links rather than "click here". 3 min.
- YouTube video of a brief by Jeff Bingham of Washington Sate University. This is technically a brief to Google employees about a project for a faux screen reader they have developed. It is long, but the beginning at least has some very good info and statistics for the first half.

If these people can do these things... imagine what they can do with a simple accessible web site.

After seeing these... I really do not want to here developers saying that accessibility is to hard and not enough people benefit from it.

December 21, 2008

As developers interested in accessibility, we use tools to aid us. Whether these be assistive technologies or tools of the language like alt attributes. But the problem with cognitive disorders is they are not something you can nail down, it is about the inability to understand content, not the inability to access it. No real tools here for us and no way to really simulate it. It is hard to really even understand it as it is all about not understanding.

So we have to deal with something we cannot really understand and help people with this problem to better handle our web sites. My eye opener after 7 years of accessible design was just a few weeks ago. I had just listened to a web cast on the subject when I was asked to come up with examples for accessible tables. I did all the right things, with an eye on WCAG 2 that will likely go final in the next year. So although using all the tricks and tools available I built a table that is by all normal standards... but is it understandable for cognitive disorders? I don't know, but accessibility is about choice and alternatives. We offer those with disabilities or other wishes to access our information in alternative manners.

So in theory it is quite possible that someone with a cognitive problem may not find such data tables to be understood, so even here maybe we should do that little extra work to give them a choice.

Ok, being a top designer you have created a table, you use TH for column or row headers, you may have used scope or IDs, you have a perfect coded table explaining what menu is served which day and all is easy to understand at first sight, your are finished. But is it the most understandable form for all people?

Then consider this. If your table is dynamic you can draw the same info from the database and show it in multiple forms. So you could take a simple table showing days of the week and the menu needed for it in a textual format that someone may find easier to understand.

></pre>
<table border="1" summary="This table showing our lunch service gives the three lunch courses (column headings)">Today's Lunch Menu   The following information is based on the preferences we have seen based on 3 years
of lunch statistics showing the most often ordered food on this day historically.This information was collected by Joe Blow, please contact Mike if you have any questions.Salad MealDessertCaesarT-bone SteakPineapple Upside down Cake</t

OK now, the above is a proper accessible table that uses best practices and should be usable for the normal disabled users. But is it clear for someone with a cognitive disorder? Maybe, maybe not, we have no way to know until they complain... if they complain.

So maybe plain text would be better for some people and is not all that hard as long as it changes daily. Imagine a simple text paragraph with a feed from the database, the same data as in the table (Indicated by {}).

Today's Lunch Menu
Today we will be serving {Caesar} Salad, {T-bone Steak} and {Pineapple Upside down Cake} as dessert.

This information is based on the preferences we have seen based on 3 years of lunch statistics showing the most often ordered food on this day historically. The information was collected by Joe Blow. Please contact Mike if you have any questions.

So as you see, this simple paragraph style is not as clear at a quick glance, but could be more understandable than a table to some forms of Cognitive Disorders. If both paragraph and table draw from a database, the entries are automatically updated and need not be manually changed. Both versions can be offered on the same page with a heading that allows choice, a screen reader user may find the second preferable to the table as well and choose to skip the table and listen to the paragraph.

So unlike normal accessibility tricks, I cannot say that this is a better way for any number of people. What I would like you to consider is simply that accessibility is about offering choices to allow alternative methods for those with special needs are simply other preferences, to access information in another manner. So when it works, data type info in a data table as well as plain text. Offer an RTF document & a PDF version, offer multiple style sheets, offer two forms of navigation, offer alternative text to images. Just always try to ask yourself if this is not the best format for the user to read information, what can you do to offer an alternative form, give the user a choice to what best suites them.

WebAIM has a good article on the subject of Cognitive disorders: Cognitive Disabilities.

December 21, 2008

[Note: For those who have not followed the subject, I recently wrote a pair of articles, "Understanding and the Cognitive Disorder " and "From the inside: Depression & the Cognitive Disorder."]

We are all just human and we do what humans do, one of those things is to get so involved in things that we loose site of the larger picture. Accessibility advocates are no different and from time to time we have to be reminded that accessibility is not just about disabled persons, accessibility is about everyone.

I recently posted a thread about my above linked depression article over at Accessify forum where it was well taken. A member going by the name of "atu" posted some links on the subject of concentration loss and distraction in modern society. This is not directly related to web design exactly, but the articles are quite interesting and make you think and that is what web design is all about.

If in fact the "Web" is dumbing people down, then it is something we need to take into consideration in our designs. I would like to say we need to fight this new reality. But truth be told we are part of the problem, we build the sites that cause these issues and our customers pay us to do just that. So help fight it where you can, but before it can be fixed it must be recognized and these articles may be to early to truly prove a problem, but they certainly are a dire warning and worth reading. As usual, we must be aware of what is happening to our users.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr

The Autumn of the Multitaskers by Walter Kirn

Stoooopid .... why the Google generation isn?t as smart as it thinks by Bryan Appleyard

Does IM Make U Dum? by Martha Brockenbrough (one of my all time favorites from a few years ago)

December 21, 2008

Here are some reading material to show how Google is now getting interested in accessibility... so it is about time developers do to.

Workin' it on all browsers
To web surfers, Google Chrome is a quick, exciting new browser. As webmasters, it's a good reminder that regardless of the browser your visitors use to access your site "Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, etc." browser compatibility is often a high priority. When your site renders poorly or is difficult to use on many browsers you risk losing your visitors' interest, and, if you're running a monetized site, perhaps their business.
Making sure your site appears properly in different browsers.
Users typically view your website using a browser. Each browser interprets your website code in a slightly different manner, which means that it may appear differently to visitors using different browsers. In general, you should avoid relying on browser specific behavior, such as relying on a browser to correctly detect a content-type or encoding when you did not specify one. In addition, there are some steps you can take to make sure your site doesn't behave in unexpected ways.
Google Accessible Search.
Accessible Web Search for the Visually Impaired
Google Accessible Search rewards accessibility.
Google Accessible Search is a new Google product that is under development. It is designed to prioritize search results that are more usable to blind and visually impaired people. - 456BereraStreet.com
Google, meet Web Standards.
The intention was, of course, to make the code used for the GSA's search interface conform to Web standards, be accessible, and work in all devices. Joe asked me if I would be interested in taking a look and suggest improvements. You can?t really say no to a request like that, can you?
Google Goes To Web Standardsville, Part Two.
(HTML). This stylesheet has been revised and improved by Google countless times over the years and has its roots, of course, in Google.com.

December 21, 2008

You can write code in something like Notepad, but face it, syntax coloring to spot errors, spell checkers and the like are all good tools to have. So with no further ranting I offer to you this list of possible editors to choose from. Some I have used, some just heard of.

I have organized it in operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux and then sub divided into Freeware and Shareware. Also a few other editors are mentioned specializing for say PHP.

This page may be added or subtracted to as new programs arrive or fall away so you will need to stop by once in a while. You will see at the bottom the last time it was edited.

This is not the end all of lists, there may be more editors out there and some of these may be usable on more than one platform

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HTML Editors

Big Boys

Adobe Dreamweaver - (Formerly Macromedia Dreamweaver) The development Standard. Odds are if you try to get a job the company will be using this so it is better to know how to work with it. As excellent site management tools. Works as both code and WYSIWYG per Layout view. Windows / Mac.
Microsoft Expression Studio - The new Expression series of development tools, Expression web is the normal WYSIWYG editor that replaced the retired FrontPage series. It is more standards compliant and a far better tool than FrontPage. Reduce complexity and ease data integration by using powerful design tools and task panes to design for ASP.NET, PHP and XML. Seamlessly integrate Web design and development teams with the powerful combination of Expression Web 2 and Visual Studio 2008.
Microsoft Visual Studio - Likely the premiere tool for developing Microsoft .NET Framework ASP applications and pages. Most commonly used with Visual basic or more and more C#. This tool is build explicityly for dealing with .NET solutions.

Windows

Freeware

HTML-Kit Tools - The newest version of HTML-Kit, it offers many languages and extensions, supports PHP and up through C++. There are other applications at Chami that you may find of use as well.
1st Page 2000 - a very good program I used for two years. It is now a bit old in the tooth as it was originally written by a high school student in Australia and now comes under EVRSOFT.
Amaya - I must say it looks impressive and is a product of the W3C itself.
Vim - I played with this in school, it is actually meant for Linux and has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware.
Nvu - Originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It has been re-vamped. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.
KompoZer - This is an editor related to Nvu, but the last official release was 2005.
NoteTab - I have never built a site with this but often use it just to check source code of sites I visit, it is quick loading. Windows free and shareware depending on version.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.
Arachnophilia - This is a program that has been around a while. I have never used it, but have heard often that it is very simple and therefore is a excellent editor for beginners learning HTML.

Shareware

HotDog - This program has been around for sometime. It was often supplied in computer magazines in Germany. I have not heard of it in years but it is still out there.
CoffeeCup HTML Editor - I have used CoffeCup software and generally it is very good.
AceHTML - A shareware editor with a decent reputation.
NetObjects Fusion - Ok this is tricky. This software has rated well often. It is especially good for creating e-commerce sites and Database driven web sites. What keeps me from praising it however is the way it works. Even the worst editors allow some access to the HTML behind the web site. Fusion however uses it's own propriety code created as you drag and drop elements on the screen. Only once the web site is finished and is to be published, is the propriety code then translated into HTML. This means at no time can you switch to HTML view to tweak a element. This program goes out of it's way to keep you away from the code, so it is fine for those with no interest in learning how to really build sites.

Mac

Freeware

Creatext - I think about the most popular pure Mac editor, highly recommended to me. However it is no longer being developed, the older versions are available at this link.
Nvu - Originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It has been re-vamped. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.
KompoZer - This is an editor related to Nvu, but the last official release was 2005.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.

Shareware

BBEdit - I have heard of it but know little.
Rage Web Design - Sorry, no real info or experience with this one.
PageSpinner - Sorry, no real info or experience with this one.
Tumult HyperEdit - Sorry, no real info or experience with this one.
Coda - This is a Mac tool, so I can not say how well it works but I have heard good things about it and it certainly sounds interesting for Mac users. Worth reading up on.
skEdit - Never used it but was suggested to me in a forum.
Taco HTML Edit - orry, no real info or experience with this one.

Linux

Freeware

Vim - I played with this in school, it is actually meant for Linux and has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware.
Nvu - Originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It has been re-vamped. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.
KompoZer - This is an editor related to Nvu, but the last official release was 2005.
Quanta Plus - Sorry, no info on this.
Kate (KDE Advanced Text Editor) - Sorry, no real info or experience with this one.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.

Other languages

CSS

TopStyle CSS - My choice for CSS work, also comes in a free light version, at least older versions of it.
EditCSS - A Firefox Extention suggested by tpattison below.
JustStyle CSS Editor - Sorry, no real info or experience with this one.

PHP

EditPlus2 - My earliest editor for PHP programming, really nice tools and plugins. I still use it sometimes.
PHP Designer - A freeware PHP editor with a decent reputation, from the creators of HTML Gate.
Rapid PHP - PHP editor, never used it but it comes well praised to me. Shareware / Windows.
Zen Studio - A very good program, I have used it before and was impressed. But also recall it being a bit complicated. It is not free but I think worth it for the hard core PHP programmer.
CodeLobster PHP Edition - I have never used it but it was suggested to me for this list by "oldkiller". It is a free editor.

XML

Xopus XML Editor - shareware, browser based XML editor, have no more info on it the what the site says.
XMLSpy - Likely the default XML editor on the market. Shareware.

General programming Editors

Eclipse - It supports Java, PHP, C/C++ & Coldfusion for a few I know of. It is free and for all Platforms.
Flex - Put simply, Flex is Flash for programmers. However rather than making animations it is used to make Flash based web and desktop applications using ActionScript. It uses the Eclipse IDE and ties easily into languages such as Java or C++ and databases such as SQL and Oracle.

Editors for CMS

Xstandard - XStandard is said to write the Purest standards based code of any WYSIWYG editor. It is meant for Content Management Systems (CMS), it opens in your default browser (NOTE: It uses Active-X so only works under Windows OS at this time).
GWD Text Editor - I have never used it but it was praised in a couple of forums. Windows Shareware.
TinyMCE - another WYSIWYG editor meant for use in a CMS. This will work under Mac, Windows and Linux.
WYMEditor - This is still in the Alpha phase so it is really not ready for use by beginners. Only those with experiance should try this at this time. It does however look interesting and I will be watching it. It pays close attention to standards and accessibility. One of the developers is a member here (see farther down the thread).
widgEditor - from my understanding this will work with both Mac and Windows.
FCKEditor - This too is a CMS editor that works on all operating systems.

December 21, 2008

In a recent thread a reader asked what they are ad someone explained and typed out a example.

So what is it really? Think of Hansel and Grettel leaving bread crumbs to help them track their movements.

Breadcrumb navigation is the same. It helpes you track your position in the navigation scheme.

Example for a school would be: Home > Classes > 1982 > 7b

This would be Home page lead to Classes lead to the year and in the case of a German school that usually has more than one class, class 7b. If what I want is to here I see I can back track to 1982 and chose a different class, or backtrack to 1983 and check class 7b.

So the Bread crumb is a trail that allows you to backtrack logically to higher instances, so if your navigation has different sub levels under different menu items, it can be a useful tool to offer the user.

Problems:

It is really not tested or standard yet. Many visual surfers do not notice it or know what to do with it.

Visually impaired people seem to be in two groups, Those who do not understand what it is and those who do and can use it, but some who know what it is find it hard to deal with still. So the final call on whether it is useful in accessibility or a hindrance is not out yet, seems close to equal right now.

Also the choice of separators should be considered. Most often seen is > which acts as a visual arrow in the direction. But this symbol has a semantic meaning, "Greater than". So a screenreader would usually read "Home greater than classes greater than 1982 greater than 7b".

Some argue that even that makes some sense as each level is less important that the previous.

Other opinions are a colon ( is better and suggests a menu while still others choose to use the | key which visually compares to the line separators often used.

But fact is > when considered wrong by some is so widespread that many visually impaired are used to it even though it may not be the best choice, it has become a form of default set by visual people but now do to it's widespread use accepted by the visually impaired.

At this time their is no right or wrong answer, just opinions. I myself have not totally decided yet as to which I will use as standard, but currently tend towards "|".

December 21, 2008

Collaborative Effort Results in More Flexible and Testable Standard; Advances Accessibility of the Web

http://www.w3.org/ -- 11 December 2008 -- Today W3C announces a new standard that will help Web designers and developers create sites that better meet the needs of users with disabilities and older users. Drawing on extensive experience and community feedback, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 improve upon W3C's groundbreaking initial standard for accessible Web content.

This new standard from the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) will advance accessibility across the full range of Web content (such as text, images, audio, and video) and Web applications. WCAG 2.0 can be more precisely tested, yet it allows Web developers more flexibility and potential for innovation. Together with supporting technical and educational materials, WCAG 2.0 is easier to understand and use.

WCAG 2.0 addresses barriers to accessing the Web experienced by people with visual, auditory, physical, cognitive and neurological disabilities, and by older Web users with accessibility needs. WCAG 2.0 explains how to make content:

* Perceivable (for instance by addressing text alternatives for images, captions for audio, adaptability of presentation, and color contrast);

* Operable (by addressing keyboard access, color contrast, timing of input, seizure avoidance, and navigability);

* Understandable (by addressing readability, predictability, and input assistance); and

* Robust (for instance by addressing compatibility with assistive technologies).

Read the whole Press Release

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The simple life: Thoughts on web design. [Update: June 2007]

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Screen reader & AT issues

From the mouth of the users [May 2008]

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Cognitive disorders or just the new reality?

Google shows interest in Accessibility... so should you.

Alternative Editors for Web Development - [Sept. 2012]

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WCAG 2.0 has arrived, it is the new standard

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