Latest Accessibility News on Accessify

When Designers Meet Techies

Proof that standards-compliant web page designs do not have to be dull.

Mac + Accessibility = Maccessibility

Kynn Bartlett has set up a new website with a blog for news, announcements, and opinions related to the following topics:

• Apple’s Mac OS X Operating System
• Accessibility of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Software
• Web Accessibility
• Accessibility in General

Don’t think that it won’t be useful unless you are a Mac user as there is loads of interesting accessibility related information to be found.

The next session of the IWA/HWG D201 online course, Accessible Web Design, is starting on March 17. You can enroll until March
24. The cost for this online class is 180 dollars, or 80 dollars for IWA/HWG members.

Tweak your Dreamweaver 4 for Better Accessibility

New in the Tools and Wizards section - some modified objects to place in your Dreamweaver 4 Configuration folder. There are some new buttons for your palettes and some other re-worked dialogues (such as table, which now includes a table summary and caption input). More Dreamweaver modifications will be added as and when you request them …

New tool available for trial download

Sorry, this one’s for PC users only …

New on this site - the beginnings of a Visual Basic application that re-creates some of our free online tools. And guess what - it’s free too! Only two sections of the tool are working now, and this is posted here for people to try out and give feedback at an early stage of development.

For information, the tool has already developed since this version was compiled - when the code is generated, the tool will include a ‘copy to clipboard’ button.

Your comments will be appreciated, particularly on the matter or installation - did it run smoothly if you downloaded the setup file? Or did you just download the exe, and was this successful?

Nick Kew of “webthing” has released a beta of a new accessibility tool for server administrators. The mod_accessibility module is designed to offer a range of accessibilty features to the Apache 2.0 web server.

Although it will never provide a subsitute for thorough user checks and validation, the add-on has some nifty tricks up its sleeve. Most notable are the abilities to generate on-the-fly link summaries of web content and text-only versions. On the downside, implementation requires both access to, and knowledge of the Apache web server configuration. Still, if you are able to, it is worth a try.

Training Event Dates:

March 31-April 18, 2003 (3 weeks)

WebAIM are at it again. They are running their Accessibility Training Course, the only difference is that this year you have to pay!

So what’s it all about?

Each week features:

• An audio introduction to the week’s content
• Recommendations about how to proceed through the content
• Live captioned webcast
• Discussion board

Read about the topics for each of the tracks on each of the weeks:

• Track 1: Developing accessible content
• Track 2: Coordinating Web accessibility efforts
• Track 3: Teaching others about Web accessibility

If you do enrol in the course then let us know what you thought about it.

Get a FREE accessibility report from Headscape, a new media development house that offers a full range of new media services. Simply enter your details on their website and they will email you a breakdown of any potential problems on your website. Mind you, this is a company and at the end of the day they need to make money to stay afloat, so they are doing this for free in the hope you will use some of their services. But if they are good, have accessibility in mind and finish the job then why not?

3rd April 2003 - York, UK

This workshop will examine the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and issues that arise for disabled students. Emphasis will be placed on how PDAs can benefit disabled students, and issues of usability and accessibility will also be covered. The workshop will also report on how the Internet, VLEs and other technologies can be accessed using PDAs.

Practical applications of PDAs in an educational context will also be looked at; each delegate will receive a PDA and a range of software that can be used for education. In addition a set of workshop materials will be provided for each delegate should they wish to run a similar workshop in their own institution.

Registration Form

The RNIB is a huge accessibility advocate in the UK that is constantly campaigning for large corporations to make their website accessible. They are always being asked by both individuals and businesses what can be done to improve the state of the Internet as it stands so that more and more people have access to it. For corporations that are serious about getting accessible, the RNIB offer the See It Right Campaign where you can display their logo if your website is approved by them. They are also now running accessibility audits so if you want them to audit your website for you then get in touch with them.