Link Roundup - August 2010

• HTML5 Issue: Longdesc Retention (W3C wiki)
• Raakt - The Ruby Accessibility Analysis Kit
• Accessible ARIA Tabs by @jkiss
• UStream videos from Montreal accessibility conference (#a11yMTL)
• Developing an Accessible Star Ratings Widget (YUI blog)
• Report Finds Five U.S. State Benefits' Websites Inaccessible (COAT)
• Ten tools to help test website accessibility
• Accessibility in Online Teaching - a great starting point
• How the Blind See the Internet (Gizmodo)
• Using NVDA screen reader to Evaluate Web Accessibility (WebAIM)
• Creating Your Own Accessible HTML5 Media Player by @terrillthompson
• Accessing Nav Drop-Downs
• Preparing InDesign Files for Accessibility (Adobe TV)
• Access Key Replacement (W3C wiki)
• CSSquirrel demos longdesc attribute in non-visual comic Alone In The Pitch Black Dark
• Accessibility Camp DC registration is open; event is October 9 at MLK Library
• YUI Theater: Accessibility on the Yahoo Homepage
• College Web Pages Are 'Widely Inaccessible' to People With Disabilities
• Web accessibility for cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties (Opera)
• Silverlight Accessibility Overview (Microsoft)
• Twitter and Web Accessibility presentation from INDATA Conference by @dennisl
• Caption any 5-minute YouTube video for $5
• Great list of free screen readers
• Video about Yahoo's Accessibility Lab featuring Alan Brightman

Accessibility in .Net Mag Awards

Two nominations directly related to web accessibility appeared in the .net magazine's 2010 Best of the Web awards. This site, Web Axe, was nominated for "Podcast of the Year" and Accessible Twitter was nominated for "Best API Use". Please make your vote and support the importance of web accessibility and the efforts of these two services!

On October 20, nominations for each category will be reduced to three. A panel of over 100 judges will choose the final winners and will be announced on November 19.

Podcast #83: Fate of Longdesc in HTML5

What's the fate of the "longdesc" attribute in HTML5? Can or should the "aria-labelledby" ARIA attribute replace it? These are some of the controversial issues discussed by Dennis and guests John Foliot (@johnfoliot), Everett Zufelt (@ezufelt), and Joe Dolson (@joedolson).

Download Web Axe Episode 83 (Fate of Longdesc in HTML5)

[transcript of podcast 83]

Related Links

• WCAG 2 longdesc technique
• W3C HTML 4.01 longdesc Specification
• Creating Accessible Images - Long Descriptions (WebAIM)
• What should be the minimum / maximum length of alternate text? (see comments)
• Firefox Longdesc add-on by Patrick Lauke

No to Text Resize Widgets

Michael Gifford (@mgifford) recently wrote a tweet on text-resizing widgets. It said:

Is it time to scrap text resize widgets and teach people how to resize text http://bit.ly/94jNkv

I totally agree. Say no to text resize widgets. To enlarge text for users, the browser should be used (many reasons below). See this video from OpenConcept on how to text-resize in your browser.

Gifford's tweet references an article on the subject from almost 3 years ago, Scrap text resize widgets and teach people how to resize text from 456 Berea St. This site had also blogged about the topic a while back in Don't Use Text Resizing Widgets.

Keep in mind is the issue of misinformation. For example, the very recent article A quick Web Accessibility Checklist actually encourages the use of text resize widgets, or in their words a "Font re-size option".

Gifford's tweet sparked many responses with many very good points, which all support why not to implement text-resizing tools on a website. I've summarized some reasons from very respectable professionals including @v, @alxp, @johnfoliot, and @ppatel. (Bonus! See slide 12 of Web Accessibility Gone Wild by WebAIM which also discourages the use.)

• Implementers need to stop setting font to 80% (or lower!) in the default CSS.
• Text resize widgets only add another layer of complexity on top.
• Text resize widgets don't resize text in images.
• Text resize widgets are site-specific. There's no standard; each site implements differently.
• Text resize widgets causes confusion, clutters up the interface.
• Text resizing is the responsibility of browser; browsers should do this natively. Browsers need a better way to expose this functionality to the user.
• Users who regularly need larger text have figured this out already on all the sites that lack such a widget.
• Interface design is not graphic design. Tyrannical control over font size & colors in UI is doing a huge disservice to users.
• Text resize widgets make the author feel like they are doing good, but only solve problems created by the designer/developer in first place.
• Not many users I've spoken to (@ppatel) use the widgets.

Link Roundup - July 2010

• Department of Justice to assess US government sites for Section 508 compliance
• Ten common accessibility problems from Roger Hudson
• The ADA and the Web: Concerns and Misconceptions (WebAIM)
• Slides for "Web Accessibility for Writers" from Victoria Online seminar. Excellent!
• Presenting the new Even Grounds Web #Accessibility Channel on YouTube
• Blind bargains says 3 out of 4 of blind users cannot use google audio #CAPTCHA
• Web Accessibility London Unconference, Sept 21, 2010. On Twitter at @a11yldn
• The Yahoo accessibility blog has been launched.
• Consider signing & sharing the Facebook web accessibility petition.
• 10+ Special Browsers For Visually Impaired Users
• Slides for 5 layers of web accessibility presentation by @ginader from Open Web Camp II (Slideshare)
• Cross Culture Accessibility: Web Design That Crosses Cultures
• Designing accessible icons (Part 1) from Nomensa
• PDF Accessibility video tutorials from Adobe TV
• The Beauty of Semantic Markup, Introduction by @emilylewis
• Say No To Noscript by @gezlemon.
• Experiments with language & accessibility (& Twitter) by @terrillthompson
• Joomlashack: Usability, Accessibility, Web Standards and SEO
• Slides for "Thick, Rich, and Accessible" preso by @katelynch from DrupalCamp, Chicago, June
• Test PDF files with free PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) (Windows)
• Why Accessibility Research by Jeffrey Bigham