‘Web’ Archive

Dial up and Accessibility

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 [...]

Adopting WCAG 2

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 [...]

Refreshable Braille and the Web

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 [...]

Look Ma, I’m an idiot

The recent Domino’s Pizza “horror” video and its aftermath got me thinking once again about the apparent disconnect some people experience between their antics in the virtual world the real world consequences.
We have all seen stories of people who after a heavy night out, use Facebook, Myspace or something similar, to share their experiences with [...]

Accessibility Supported?

I recently reviewed a couple of PDF forms for compliance with WCAG 2 and the inconsistent way the test screen readers handled these forms threw up several interesting issues or questions.
Sorry I am unable to show the forms or describe them in detail due to a NDA; however in general they both contain a lot [...]

Conroy Q & A

Senator Conroy is participating in the Q&A panel-discussion program on the ABC this evening. Needless to say, many people are sending in questions relating to the Internet Filtering proposal for Tony Jones to ask the Senator.
I have sent in the following as President of the Web Industry Professionals Association:
Like Senator Conroy, I am concerned about [...]

Webstock 2009 (+video)

I recently returned from another great Webstock Conference in Wellington: Magic venue, fabulous speakers, terrific vibe!

When opening the conference, I think Mike Brown picked the mood perfectly, commenting on the financial and environmental crisis facing the world, the importance of finding solutions quickly and how the web, and the people who work in it, have [...]

Use of Web 2.0 Tools

During September 2008, I did a quick survey to gain some insights into how people use some of the newer features of the web such as blogs, tags and social networking sites. I was also interested compare the extent to which these tools are used by people who work making sites with those who just [...]

Taxonomy, Search, Social Networks and Pace-Layering

At the Oz-IA Conference in Sydney during September 2008, I gave a talk about different ways information on the web can be identified and found. The presentation also considered how Pace-Layering theory might be applied to the process of developing websites. The presentation slides are now available on SlideShare.
When presented with concerns about the proposed [...]

The Evolving Web

A Pace Layering view of the development of the Web and the W3C
The Web today is very different to what it was in 1994, when the World Wide Web Consortium was established. This article looks back at the early history of the Web and uses Pace Layering theory to consider some recent developments and [...]