Link Roundup - September 2010

• Bonus! An offer to the HTML5 team to save longdesc by Vlad Alexander at XStandard
• Landmark Technology Access Bill Heads to President Obama's Desk
• Accessibility testing tools (Steve Faulkner, The Paciello Group)
• Response to HTML5 editor on Canvas accessibility (by Rich Schwerdtfeger)
• Adobe’s Andrew Kirkpatrick interviewed on Accessibility in Government (video)
• Accessibility for web writers, part 1: Introduction
• Assistive Technologies for Online Learning
• Web Accessibility day course by RNIB in Edinburgh (Oct) & London (Nov)
• Should Sighted Developers Use Screenreaders To Test Accessibility? (great comments!)
• Using Accessible Twitter With JAWS Screen Reader
• HTML5 Canvas Accessibility in Internet Explorer 9 by@stevefaulkner
• 20 Sites Assessed For Cognitive Web Accessibility
• Top 4 Reasons Why You Need to Address Web Accessibility
• WebAIM Aids eBay Accessibility Efforts
• Blind woman sues Canadian feds over online access
• Very entertaining video explaining closed captions (YouTube)
• Does your website legally need to be accessible? (U.S.)
• Web Design Guidelines for Low Bandwidth
• Web #Accessibility, Structured Negotiations & DOJ Rulemaking
• 10 Tools for Evaluating Web Design Accessibility
• WCAG 2.0 for Usability Specialists presentation (W3C) (April 2010)
• Facebook patent for 'social CAPTCHA' fails on accessibility
• Accessibility and the Law: How good UX can keep you out of court (U.S.)
• Raakt - The Ruby Accessibility Analysis Kit

About the 2010 Accessing Higher Ground Conference

So I'm starting to regret not attending the AHG conference this year (Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference). I attended (and presented) at the previous two events. This year looks just as good, if not better.

AHG 2010 will be November 15-19 at the Westin Hotel in Westminster, Colorado, located about 13 miles from downtown Denver. It's a really nice venue with nice restaurants nearby.



Over 60 presentations and hands-on sessions and 35 hours of hands-on workshops are scheduled. You can read the session descriptions here. Maybe you'll see me on the list next year!

The fees are affordable, and an early registration discount is available until October 1. Groups of 5 who register together are eligible for a 10% discount. You may register for AHG here.

I think something new this year are special session tracks from which to choose. The tracks are:

• ADA Track
• ATACP FastTrax
• ATHEN Track
• Dolphin Track
• EASI Track
• WebAIM Track

Podcast #84: Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary

In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Dennis and Ross discuss the history of Web Axe and several memorable moments. Then, nine special guests provide excellent insight and information relating to web accessibility including Paul Boag and Bruce Lawson. It's great stuff, don't miss it!

Download Web Axe Episode 84 (Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary)

[Transcript of podcast 84]

Some History

• Dennis Lembree launched Web Axe in September 2005 with a boost from the Detroit Podcasters Network.
• Co-host Ross Johnson joined September of 2006 in Lists and Accessibility -- How and Why? (podcast #26).
• Readership continues to grow; over 5,400 Web Axe RSS subscribers (85% of my RSS subscribers are using Google Reader or iGoogle). Number of Twitter followers continues to grow (@WebAxe).
• Interesting topics for web accessibility: business reasons, bandwidth and loadtime, and screen resolution.

Memorable Moments

• Nominated three years in a row in the .net magazine Best of the Web awards.
• Web Axe featured in BBC Podcast, segment on accessibility in Pods & Blogs show.
• First interview: Jared Smith of WebAIM, Podcast #27 (September 2006).
• Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics recorded from Santa Cruz, California (September 2009).
• Podcast #35: Usability and Accessibility Conference recorded from event in Lansing, Michigan (November 2006).
• Visit to Yahoo! Accessibility Testing Lab (July 2009).
• NFB vs. Target Lawsuit is Settled!
• Critiques invoke responses: Recovery.gov, ca.gov, section508.gov

Special Episode Podcast Contributors

• Bruce Lawson (Opera, HTML5Doctor) - great HTML5 info.
• Denis Boudreau (A11Y_MTL) - French Canadian up very late recording.
• Jennison Asuncion - Accessibility tester, researcher, and all-around nice guy.
• Karen Mardahl (STCAccess) - Wicked good technical communicator.
• Mike Gifford (OpenConcept) - Drupal expert.
• Paul Boag (Boagworld) - Well, everyone knows this guy!
• Steve Grobschmidt - User Experience Lead and blogger.
• Terrill Thompson - A cool musician, basketball fan, and Technology Accessibility Specialist.
• Tom Babinszki (Even Grounds) - Accessibility consultant and blogger.

Addendum: Podcast Corrections

• Steve Grobschmidt's last name was announced incorrectly (it's not "Aquinas", that's part of his Twitter handle).
• We state that there are 8 guest speakers; there's actually 9!
• We mentioned that Boagworld is no longer podcasting, but failed to mention that they plan on returning in January 2011. (Paul mentions this in his commentary.)

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.