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- Web Page
Accessibility: A "How to" & "What is
it" Guide - - -
Links to tutorials,
standards, emulators, etc...
Last Updated: 04/18/2001
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nikolaisen@yahoo.com
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Update Section - - -
04.18.01
Here's a story of how the
Internet changed someone's life. This is the very reason why we
should create accessible sites: No
Disability in Digitalized Community
http://www.icdri.org/no_disability_in_digitalized_com.htm
by Dr. ZhangXu http://www.zhangxu.org/
Converted
www.repeatables.com
to be an accessible site, Bobby approved. 3/01
- Page Topics - - -
Aaccessibility, alternative browsers, WAP/WML,
W3C standards
This page is to keep
track of the resources that I discover while learning about creating
more accessible web pages. Currently I have a few ideas about
how to do this, but no browsers to test my theories, and what I'm
learning with, so this may take some time, to get accurate results
to share.
What is web
Accessibility? It's more than having a HTML document that
works in IE and Netscape. Accessibility is about everybody
having access to web sites. This means with a Braille, voice
synthesizer/Aural, Cell Phone, Palm Pilot etc. What mainstream
developers may not have heard about is that a web page that looks
visually pleasing and all of the links work on in IE and Netscape,
may actually be near impossible to navigate using alternative
browsers. Have you tried to surf your page without a mouse?
How about with a cell phone? Or with an aural CSS enabled?
Yikes! Cell phones give you a 404 error because they're
looking for .wml pages. I have tried the aural CSS and pages
break immediately. If a page has tables to layout graphics
instead of content, why would someone want to waste their time
sorting through images while looking for the page content?
I've just barely
scratched the surface of the accessibility topic and am trying to
learn more about it. I joined the w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
forum to learn what I could and have been reading articles and
trying to find 'free' browsers to test what I'm developing and to
learn what's causing problems on the pages I create. The rest
of this page is dedicated to the helpful sites, standards, browsers,
et al that I have found so far. Hope some of this helps other
web developers.
P.S. http://www.useit.com/
A site worth checking out. Jakob Nielsen's Website. Mr.
Nielsen has written a very controversial book called:
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity I have
read that people either absolutely love the book, or hate it.
Here's a link to the book:  0-7897-2024-8:Product
Link on Barnes & Noble.com.
Check out Bobby!
"Bobby is a free service provided by CAST to help Web page
authors identify and repair significant barriers to access by
individuals with disabilities."
To contact me e-mail nikolaisen@yahoo.com
- STANDARDS - - -
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI/
Tool to test URL's for
accessibility
http://www.cast.org/bobby/
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ARTICLES - - -
Web Accessibility with HTML 4.0 - By Molly E. Holzschlag
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/1999/12/desi/
- ALTERNATIVE
BROWSERS - - -
Cell Phone Emulators
http://www.wapjag.com/
(click the "start virtual wapjag" link to start the
emulator)
Screen Readers
Jaws
(Got Jaws to work, very cool!)
R380: WAP Developers
Tools
http://www.ericsson.net/developerszone/
- WAP & WML - - -
http://www.wap.com/
Excellent site. Message area, WAP emulator, tutorials
http://tagtag.com/site/index.php3
my WAP site: http://tagtag.com/story
my test wml: http://home.earthlink.net/~nikolaisen/wml
- PALM PILOTS - - -
Can't find anything yet... have only been able to find info for
software developers. If you have information please e-mail me.
- LINKS - - -
- ADA Home Page: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
- Apple Disability Resources: http://www.apple.com/education/k12/disability/
- IBM Accessibility Center: http://www-3.ibm.com/able/guidelines.htm
- Microsoft Accessibility: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/
- Another helpful site: http://consideration.org/technology/
"Our
vision when we started the company was a computer on every desk
and in every home," Gates said. "And in this setting, I
think the word to emphasize there is 'every'. The PC can be a tool
for everyone."
- Sun
Microsystems' Accessibility Program: http://www.sun.com/access/
- Web
Accessible Web Design: http://bcn.boulder.co.us/bcn/webaccess/access.htm
A repeatables.com sister site
nikolaisen@yahoo.com
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