Newsletter Archives - October 2004
Note
This newsletter is maintained here for archival purposes. The content presented here may be outdated, may contain out-of-date links, and may not represent current best practices or represent the opinion and recommendations of WebAIM. For up-to-date information, please refer to the WebAIM web site.
Featured Article
Accessiblity Features of DreamWeaver MX and MX 2004
Author: Jared Smith (WebAIM)
Dreamweaver MX, developed by Macromedia, is one of the most popular and powerful Web development applications available today. Macromedia has greatly improved the accessibility features of Dreamweaver MX over previous versions. MX and MX 2004 now allow developers to be prompted when inserting certain Web elements that may need accessibility attributes added to them. Unfortunately, these options are disabled in the preferences by default. To learn more about these accessibility features read the full tutorial: Accessiblity Features of DreamWeaver MX and MX 2004
On Target Tip
Web Accessibility Wizard for Microsoft Office Version 2.0
iCITA has finished version 2.0 of the Web accessibility wizard for MS office. This version promises to simplify the task of outputting compliant HTML for MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. The code produced will validate as HTML 4.01 and meet Section 508 standards as well as the requirements for priority levels 1 and 2 of the W3C's WCAG 1.0. Although we typically don't promote commercial resources, with a price tag of $39.95 for a single license, this tool will pay for itself in the first month.
Best Practices in Online Captioning
Joe Clark has put together an extensive review of online captioning. For anyone involved in video or audio on the Web this is a great work to read. Joe covers captioning standards, standards-compliant Web pages with captioning, and many more topics. Hidden under the topic of bibliography is a fairly exhaustive list of Web resources that pertain to media and captioning on the Web. If you do nothing else look at the article and bookmark the resource list.
On Target Resources
New Standard for Text Email Newsletters
The TEN (Text Email Newsletter) Standard was developed by E-Access Bulletin, a free email newsletter on access to technology by people with impaired vision, published by Headstar in partnership with the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB). The standard seems intuitive and appears to promote ease of navigation, not only for people with disabilities, but everyone. WebAIM will begin implementing this standard starting with the text only version of the October 2004 newsletter.
This PBS documentary on assistive technology should prove interesting and informative. It debuts September 14th and promises to examine not only the technologies that with disabilities use but it also delves into the culture, attitudes, and politics that hinder or support universal freedom for all. Associated with this documentary is a wonderful article by Judy Brewer, the director of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative, titled The Promise of the Web.