My presentation for the 2010 CSUN Conference, “Ten Years of Web Content Accessibility Rules: Time for a Rethink?” is primarily concerned with whether or not the way we have encouraged/required the development of accessible sites in the past has been successful, and how we might improve the accessibility of the web in the future.
For more [...]
After nearly a year of deliberation, the Australian government has finally decided to move from using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) to WCAG 2.0 as the benchmark for website accessibility. On Wednesday February 24, The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) announced:
“Government agencies will transition to WCAG 2.0 over a four [...]
On Tuesday 23 February the Minister for Finance, Lindsay Tanner, announced the Australian Government had endorsed WCAG 2.0.
The press release by Minister Tanner contained few details, but said all government websites would need to comply with WCAG 2.0 by 2015.
“These new standards will improve the ability of people with a broad range [...]
While there are many things to praise in the Government 2.0 Taskforce Draft Report, ‘Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0‘, sadly I find it very light-on when it comes to the whole issue of social inclusion for people with disabilities.
How governments around the world balance the potential of web 2.0 with the reality of making [...]
We no longer think it is acceptable to discriminate against people on grounds of gender or race and, as a community, we expect provision to be made for people with disabilities in public transport and building design. However, when it comes to making sure web content is accessible to all users of the web, including [...]
Web accessibility is at the cross-roads. The WCAG of 1999 is not able to meet the needs of the web today, with its enhanced interactivity, greater community engagement and the proliferation of new technologies. WCAG 2.0 is supposed to address this problem by looking not at the technologies used to generate web content, but at [...]
The Merlin freezer in the “Thomas Delicatessen and Fine Foods” deli had stopped again and Dean Thomas was on his knees gently trying to coax it back to life. As he whispered words of endearment and encouragement, Ray Purvis entered the shop and watched in silence.
“Come on, you contrary bastard,” Dean shouted and lent back [...]
It’s funny how quickly we sometimes forget.
When cable first became available in my neighbourhood, most people connected to the internet via dial-up. Since my work involves providing advice about the usability and accessibility of websites, I made a conscious decision at the time to go with the masses and remain on dial-up. Within a [...]
It is six months since the release of WCAG 2.0 and I thought it might be interesting to see how extensively it has been adopted as a bench mark for determining web content accessibility. Over this time, I have felt that the rate of adoption has been relatively slow and the number of countries and [...]
Many people have not had the opportunity to see someone use a refreshable Braille device to access the web. I recently videoed Bruce Maguire describing how he uses the internet with a refreshable Braille display. He also demonstrates finding a book on the Amazon site. Transcript of the video is at the end of this [...]