Newsletter Archives - September 2006
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 The content presented here may be outdated, may contain out-of-date links, and may not represent current best practices or represent the opinion and recommendations of WebAIM.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
Firefox Accessibility
The focus that Mozilla Firefox places on web standards and the user experience is quickly making it a popular choice for both web developers and end users alike. Firefox is also becoming a popular browser on the accessibility front. It's Open Source nature and extensibility are allowing Firefox to be a powerful medium for increased accessibility of web content.
News
Target.com Lawsuit Moves Forward
Federal District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled that the lawsuit filed against Target.com by the National Federation for the Blind may move forward. Depending on how this case ends, it could have tremendous implications for all of United States e-commerce.
As an example of the accessibility of other large companies, United Kingdom research conducted earlier this year by Nomensa, shows that almost 75 percent of businesses in the FTSE 100 list of companies fail to meet the minimum requirements for website accessibility. To read more about this study see: FTSE 100 Websites Fail Accessibility Requirements.
Tips and Resources
NCDAE Tips and Tools: OpenOffice.org Writer
by Jonathan Whiting under WebAIM's partnership with the NCDAE
The National Center on Disability & Access to Education (NCDAE) has recently published another factsheet in its series. This factsheet discusses the accessibility of OpenOffice.org Writer.
Using the title Attribute
by Gez Lemon on juicystudio.com
The title attribute is intended to provide supplementary information about an element; for example, it might be used to provide extra information about the target of a link. Although the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) requires access to all content, current user agents provide very poor access to title text information, and what access they do provide is typically inaccessible for people with disabilities.
Text-Resize Detection
by Lawrence Carvalho and Christian Heilmann on alistapart.com
Lawrence Carvalho and Chris Heilmann demonstrate a way to detect your visitors' text size settings using JavaScript.
WebAIM Conference Presentations
October 9: EDUCAUSE
In conjunction with staff from Cornell University, WebAIM's Cyndi Rowland will deliver a preconference seminar for EDUCAUSE, the premiere information technology event in higher education. The seminar in Dallas is on October 9th. The focus will be on web accessibility policy, process, implementation, and education for postsecondary campus communities.
Oct 10-12: Mozilla Accessibility Summit
This is the first conference by Mozilla specifically on accessibility issues which have become a top priority for Mozilla. It occurs in conjunction with the Gnome Boston Summit (October 7-9) in Cambridge Ma., which includes a strand on Linux accessibility in the Gnome environment. High level developers of both Firefox and Gnome will be discussing accessibility issues and implementing accessibility solutions into their projects.
Mozilla's Firefox web browser has become very popular. This is partially due to the many extensions available to users. Developers use XUL, an XML language, to develop extensions. As with HTML web pages, XUL extensions need special attention to address the accessibility needs of end users. Shane Anderson and Aaron Andersen from WebAIM will present on XUL accessibility guidelines and demonstrate an accessibility evaluation tool that will aide developers creating extensions with accessibility in mind.
November 8-10: Accessing Higher Ground Conference
WebAIM is pleased to announce its participation in the ninth annual Accessing Higher Ground conference on Assistive Technology and Accessible Media in Higher Education. It will be held in Boulder, Colorado on Nov. 8-10 (preconference Nov.7). This conference provides an intimate setting where between 150 and 200 attendees, most of whom have a high level of accessibility expertise, can network, discuss, and learn about accessibility.
More than 35 workshops, including hands-on labs, will be presented throughout the conference on topics including Web and Media Access, the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, legal requirements and policy issues, and accommodations for students with learning disabilities, visual impairments, and physical disabilities.
WebAIM will present a series of hands-on and lecture sessions, including a full day preconference lab titled Web Accessibility Evaluation and Repair Methods, a lecture session on CSS/DHTML/AJAX Accessibility, and a second lab titled Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools and Techniques.
For a complete agenda, workshop listing, and registration form, visit the Accessing Higher Ground conference web site.
November 16-18: Refresh the Web
The Refresh the Web conference, to be held November 16-18 in Orlando, will be a great opportunity for web developers and designers to get together and discuss web standards and accessibility. The conference features two and a half days of presentations by many experts in the field. WebAIM's Jared Smith will be presenting User-Centered, Standards-Driven Web Accessibility, where he will highlight the user experience with web applications and will discuss recent changes to web accessibility standards.
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