Released in March 2006, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78 - “Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites” - was developed in order to tackle some of the confusion surrounding web accessibility. It is not a replacement for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) but is a non-technical document which aims to assist site owners and managers by describing the role of standards and user testing within site development.
But, although developed by the British Standards Institute (BSi), a PAS is not a standard. It is a sponsored piece of work that can be made available quickly to suit the market need of the developers and users of a product, process or service. In comparison, a full standard requires several more stages of development and a full consensus before it can be published. However, a PAS - which must be reviewed every two years - can be the first step in the creation of a formal standard.
PAS 78 To Become Full Standard: continue reading …
AbilityNet have just released their latest State of the eNation Report which, this time, focuses on social networking websites.
Social networking sites - such as Bebo and MySpace - may be revolutionising internet communication and creating new and exciting opportunities in both leisure and business, but AbilityNet’s examination of five of the most popular sites shows that millions of disabled people can’t even register - let alone participate in the rich on-line communities that these sites offer.
Disabled People Want Friends Too: continue reading …
Much of the primary focus of accessible web design is often on relatively young users with clearly defined medical conditions such as little or no vision or an inability to use their hands. But what about the older population — many of whom have progressively deteriorating abilities?
At this time of year, we’re surrounded by pictures of a rather jolly man dressed in red. Take a closer look. See the white hair? The facial wrinkles? Yes - Santa’s a silver surfer. So what kind of problems might he face?
Our first indication that Santa might have some web surfing problems are the spectacles he sometimes wears. He’s also a little vain as he doesn’t wear them all the time. Or perhaps he just needs them for reading? Either way, it’s more than likely that he won’t be wearing them at the very moment he’s trying to sort out an online order for reindeer food. At this point, he might want to increase the text size in his web browser but, if the font size has been set in pixels instead of % or ems, Rudolph may end up with having to make do with Standard Lichen rather than the Premium brand he’s more used to [1]. If this results in a nose that isn’t quite so red, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Santa Is A Silver Surfer: continue reading …
According to clickdensity, there appears to be a link between user screen resolutions and text size settings.
Users with low screen resolutions (such as 640 x 480) appear to be more likely to use large text compared with larger resolutions of 800 x 600 or above.
Text Sizes and Screen Resolution: continue reading …
