It’s now easier than ever to test Web site accessibility. IBM Home Page Reader 3.04 - a new version of the popular talking Web browser - has arrived. Originally created to help users who are blind or have low vision access the Internet, Home Page Reader also gives Web developers and designers the tools they need to test the accessibility and usability of Web sites.
Download it today and experiment with Home Page Reader’s new functions, including:
- Ability to read accessible, tagged Adobe Reader 6.0 PDF documents and accessible Macromedia Flash Player 7 content.
- Inclusion of a desktop reader with keyboard navigation and speech output for a number of Microsoft Windows applications, including the Windows desktop and selected system applications such as:
- Help
- Control Panel
- Notepad
- Media Player
- Settings
- Start Menu
- Taskbar
- Windows Explorer
- WordPad
- Improved features for users with low vision, including the highlighting of controls and images in the Graphics view as they are spoken and simple page magnification using either the Zoom setting within Home Page Reader or the Magnifier tool in Windows.
- Enhancements in accordance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Specifications and Guidelines that can help Web developers increase accessibility of their pages
- W3C HTML 4.01, WCAG 1.0 and UAAG 1.0
- Provision of a Developer’s Help document that outlines helpful hints, tips and techniques for Web developers who use Home Page Reader to test their Web sites for accessibility. The document also offers suggestions for fixing accessibility flaws.
Site Navigation
- Home
- News (blog)
- Tools & Wizards
- Features
- Links & Resources
- Contact Us
- Preferences
- About Accessify
- Accessify Forum
Outside reading
- Jeremy Keith does an excellent write-up of the Accessibility 2.0 conference (which I was unable to attend)
- Sharepoint and Web Accessibility
- Bruce Lawson describes the disparity between Sharepoint/MOSS developed web sites and the level of accessiblity that the tool offers to users (summary - it really is not good!)
- How does a screen reader user really hear your web site?
- Interesting post on Beast Blog about how a screen reader user - a real one! Not one of those fake web developer tester types! - uses the tool to read a web page. A few surprises were waiting in store for author Mike Cherim.
- Web Accessibility Toolbar now available in simplified Chinese
- The Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C) release a simplified Chinese version of the Web Accessibility Toolbar.
- Web 2.0 vs Web Accessibility
- 1-day seminar in London, 25th April, brings together experts in the field to discuss/demonstrate the accessibility issues faced by web 2.0.
- Leading accessibility technologists form new alliance to fix problems
- The Accessibility Interoperability Alliance (AIA), comprising (among others) Adobe, HP, Microsoft, Novell, and from the assistive tech industry Dolphin, GW Micro and HiSoftware forms to work together "to create and harmonize standards for accessible techn
- Fieldsets, legends and screen readers
- An excellent run-down of how fieldsets and legends can improve accessibility and how the various screen readers cope with this useful markup.
- CAPTCHAs explained - WacBlog
- Another really good post on the RNIB\'s Web Access Centre blog explaining captchas, why they\'re bad for accessibility and what the alternatives may be.
- Making WCAG easier to read
- Derek Featherstone has created some fancy style sheets to make reading WCAG documents a little easier on the eye.
- Top Tips for the title attribute
- Ann McMeekin provides a set of simple tips regarding when - or rather when not to - use the title attribute. \'Cos sometimes you can try *too much* to be helpful
- California court tilts towards mandating web accessibility
- Outlaw.com reports (on behalf of The Register) on the Target California class action lawsuit, digging a little deeper into what Target have been doing of late to address matters.
- Screen Readers and display:none
- Juicy Studio, aka Gez Lemon, investigate some quirks whereby screen readers announce content that they should not be. Perhaps this could be used for good rather than evil?
- Google Developer Podcast: The status of accessibility on the Web
- An interview with Google research scientist TV Rahman (and Hubbell, his seeing-eye dog!). Lots of talk about CAPTCHAs and accessibility, but no sign of a transcript for this interview as yet.
- Transcript of Shawn Henry's talk from Jun 5th 2007 in London on RNIB's Web Access Centre Blog
- Virtual worlds open up to blind
- "Online virtual worlds could soon be accessible to blind people thanks to research by students at IBM in Ireland" states BBC News
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