I’m pleased to announce that the forum is now partnered with e-access bulletin.
This means when you sign up to the forum you are also offered the opportunity to sign up to the bulletin by ticking the box on the form.
If you’re already regsitered and want to sign up please visit your profile, check the box, and submit the form.
Tim Roberts is in the early stages of developing an Open Source accessibility validation tool, currently planned to validate against WCAG 1.0 and in future Section 508 and WCAG 2 when it arrives.
For more information please see the thread on the forum. Please get involved in the development if you can spare some time.
Just got this from the UK Disability Rights Commision:
The Disability Right’s Commission’s 3-month consultation on how we should focus our work over the next 3 years closes on 19th September.
We want to hear the views of as many stakeholders as possible - including disabled people, organisations of and for disabled people, employers, educationalists and service providers, trade unions and central and local government.
To view “Focus on Change” (the background information document) and complete the online questionnaire please follow this link:
"A federal judge ‘rejected Microsoft’s post-trial claim that Eolas had misrepresented the facts in the patent case, which claimed the software giant had stolen browser technology relating to plug-ins. The ruling came after a $521 million verdict against the software giant last month, and ends Microsoft’s first attempt to challenge the result.’"
Following on from Jack Schofield’s scathing rant in The Guardian in late July against ignorant “Decorators with keyboards” who produce inaccessible, nonstandards-compliant websites as the norm (”I would love to see a few designers thrown in jail…”), Cliff Joseph has written an excellent non-technical overview of the implications of the DDA for owners of corporate websites:
Access all sights
If your company has a public website, it needs to be accessible - and that’s the law.Companies running websites that throw up barriers to disabled users could soon receive a startling reminder of their responsibilities - in the form of a lawsuit demanding they defend their designs in court.
Yet another wake-up call for site owners and developers alike. And yet more ammunition for those of us who struggle to get “the message” across in a tough commercial climate — which really means presenting a compelling and robust business case for accessibility and standards-compliance as a specific goal. Evidence in print like this should help.
Nigel comments: Nice one Dennis, good stuff.
HiSoftware just announced Hi-Caption SE:
"HiSoftware, Inc. today announced the release of Hi-Caption SE and AccRepair for Macromedia Flash MX 2004. These solutions provide developers worldwide with the first comprehensive tools for managing captioning and the accessibility of their Flash projects…."
Hisoftware are also involved in the new controls in Flash MX 2004.
Lis Angle just announced this on the forum..
"RNIB is running Web access seminars across the UK in October and November, in conjunction with AbilityNet. The seminars are aimed at web designers of all levels. They will include presentations, demonstrations and discussion groups. We will demonstrate that the inclusive approach to web design is both practical and achievable. More information and an online registration form can be found at http://www.rnib.org.uk/webseminars. The seminars are sponsored by Standard Life, and places are charged at the subsidised rate of �50 per delegate."
As a follow-on from the piece about attractive and accessible sites, I decided to start a running list here of any new submissions. No screen shots, no fancy write-ups, and it’s really only here on the front page for update-anywhere convenience (thank you Blogger). So, the additional list begins [newest first]:
I will add to this list as I get more submissions - please bookmark the link for this post and visit later.
Note: please don’t bother submitting anything unless you have validated your markup (HTML or XHTML) and CSS and have made the necessary accessibility checks. Also note that a table-free layout alone or valid XHTML does not automatically make your site accessible.
The UK’s National Library for the Blind (NLB) will be staging the 2nd
Visionary Design Awards ceremony in London on 2nd December 2003. The Awards
celebrate best practice in accessible web design for visually impaired
people.
NLB is calling for nominations of websites which demonstrate best practice
for an Award. Anyone can nominate a website, including the owner and designer
of the site as well as site users. You can nominate as many sites as you
want, provided the content of the site is written for a UK-based audience.
Prizes will be awarded to the website owners in the following categories:
The achievement of the designers of each site will also be recognised.
Details of last year’s winners are on-line at http://visdesign.nlbuk.org.
Please include in your nomination the name of the organisation or a contact
name, the website address and any comments you have about the site to
support the nomination.
All nominations must be received by 4pm on Friday 10 October 2003.
Nominations can be sent by email to visionary-design-nominations@nlbuk.org,
by phoning +44 161 355 2000 or by writing (print, Braille or audio) to NLB,
Far Cromwell Road, Bredbury, Stockport, SK6 2SG United Kingdom.
Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in the UK has launched a set of new accessibility information pages on its site today….