Ricky Buchanan ([info]rickybuchanan) wrote,
@ 2008-05-13 15:59:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:accessibility, blogging

Accessible Blogging
All Access Blogging has a great section on How To Make Your Blog Accessible which is still under construction but already has great content.

r


(Post a new comment)


[info]shadow_5tails
2008-05-13 02:41 pm UTC (link)
Wow. I'm actually vaguely surprised to see that I'm doing the right thing more often than not on what they've described so far... I shall have to consider the linkage part, though.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]rickybuchanan
2008-05-14 04:16 am UTC (link)
You're not often guilty of posts whole sole content is "[start link]Check this out![end link]" type of stuff though - those are the worst offending ones. Refer to my reply to Ace's comment for further :)

Making sure you put the right words as the comment link so they make sense when listened to as a list is a good thing, and not difficult to do once you know why it's important.

r

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]acelightning
2008-05-13 09:31 pm UTC (link)
i have to admit that i'm usually guilty of making "mystery meat" links, and/or not including "alt" tags with images - in both cases, because i like people to be surprised. and i still don't always remember not to set my font color to purple where it isn't appropriate. (although one perceptually impaired person on my list says that it's actually easier for her to read purple-on-white than black-on white!)

*hugs*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]rickybuchanan
2008-05-14 04:15 am UTC (link)
I can't stand mystery meat links!!! They drive me crazy.

I virtually never follow a link if I don't have a decent guess at the topic it's about - if people send me "watch this Youtube video! It's cool!" type things I don't watch them either. If they sent "Hey, I think you'll love this video with cats on treadmills" then I could make an informed decision but if it's just a random link (YouTube or not) then I'll assume it's probably some sort of humour that I've probably seen before. I'd rather use my limited spoons and limited downloads in stuff I choose to view than on a crapshoot that I might perhaps be interested in.

:/

r

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]acelightning
2008-05-14 11:17 am UTC (link)
if it's something like a YouTube video, i'll usually identify it further, like Here's a really pretty video of a kite festival. if i refer to a person or thing, and the name is a link, it's almost always the Wikipedia entry for that person or thing. in the unlikely event that something i'm calling attention to is a .pdf file, i will always identify it as such. and i'll always put large pictures and/or unwieldy chunks of text behind a cut tag.

i'll try to be better about alt tags from now on...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kejlina
2008-05-14 09:56 pm UTC (link)
These are all great ideas. When I post blog entries from now on, I'll be more conscientious about labeling my links, photos and videos.

I was surprised that the blog didn't mention anything about the contrast between text and background colour. Or text size, for that matter. I have bad eyesight; not bad enough to require software to read text for me - although it would probably help with some websites! I used to post on one forum and it was great until they redesigned the website to have black text on a dark green background. I wrote several polite e-mails to the website owner asking them to change it, but no change ever happened and I chose to leave the community.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]rickybuchanan
2008-05-16 01:33 am UTC (link)
For text size at least one can use the "enlarge text" commands on the user end.

Good point about the colours - perhaps email the person writing the blog to suggest it? She has stuff about colour blindness in there so she's obviously aware there's colour-related issues!

Which browser do you use? Do you know about bookmarklets to change the text colour and size of a page yourself? I know one shouldn't have to do this, but educating all the webmasters in the world ain't gonna happen :/ I keep meaning to write a post about bookmarklets for ATMac but it's not done yet and it'll be about Safari and Firefox.

r

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Hello from the person writing the blog in question
[info]lizardprincess
2008-05-17 01:00 am UTC (link)
Thanks for the link, and this is a great discussion. I certainly will be addressing the issue of text and background contrast, never fear.

-Skye Kilaen
All Access Blogging

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Hello from the person writing the blog in question
[info]rickybuchanan
2008-05-17 02:35 am UTC (link)
Thanks Skye! It's great to see people writing guides like yours - I'll certainly be promoting it all over the place :) I'd love to hear about updates when they get done.

r

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: Hello from the person writing the blog in question
[info]rickybuchanan
2008-06-18 12:26 am UTC (link)
Skye, your recent addition post has the first post in the list pointing to the same link as the last one - here http://www.allaccessblogging.com/archives/2008/06/three-new-accessibility-blog-tips.html both point to the email accessibility page.

Also, I got a spectacular error from MT when I tried to sign on with my LJ identity, here's a copy in case it means anything to you:

Movable Type
An error occurred
close unclosed token at line 1850, column 8, byte 100995: http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/10845441/44807 < =======^ at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi/XML/Parser.pm line 187

It's, erm, impressively unhelpful. When I tried to reload everything and sign in again it just gave me a boring "signin failed" page with no more information than that. Hence the comments here instead of there!

Great work, BTW. I love the stuff you've put there.

Warmest Regards,
Ricky

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Hello from the person writing the blog in question
[info]lizardprincess
2008-08-11 03:11 am UTC (link)
Yikes, and I didn't see this until now. So sorry for the mess and my bad link. Thanks for letting me know. I'll get it straightened out tomorrow.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
I think it's all fixed now
[info]lizardprincess
2008-08-12 04:41 pm UTC (link)
OK, I have tested every single signin option and turned on the "comment without signing in" option for comments - as well as fixed the broken link you pointed out. Let me know if you see any further errors, spectacular ot not!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]rickybuchanan
2008-05-17 02:35 am UTC (link)
In case you missed it, there's a comment further down from the person who wrote the original blog - she'll be addressing contrast and text colour soon! Woot!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…