VizWiz app reviewThe VizWiz app for the iPhone is humanising technology at its best. It’s a remarkable fusion of social networking and innovative technology. Blind and partially sighted people can take a picture of an object, voice record a question about the object, and send it out into the ether for identification.
How do you detect a screen reader?The short answer is that you can’t. At the time of writing there isn’t a way to reliably detect whether someone visiting your site is using a screen reader (or screen magnifier). You might have heard that Flash will do the trick, but that might not be quite the solution you’re expecting.
Creating Accessible ChartsIntroduction I was recently tasked with the challenge of creating a series of accessible charts and graphs for an internal project. We were attempting to present some graphs showing site usage statistics pulled from one of our google analytics accounts. Charts and Graphs can be tricky to implement on web pages in such a way [...]
Accessible Tabs – Part 2: The SolutionAs we saw in Accessible Tabs Part 1 – The Problem, there are several accessibility issues with tabs created for the web compared to those created for use in software applications. Tabs on the web should ideally replicate the functionality used in applications, so they are more intuitive for everyone. In this article we will look at three existing scripts for creating accessible tabs.
Accessible Tabs – Part 1: The ProblemTabs are a well recognised feature of many of today’s websites. Websites such as the BBC, Yahoo and the National Autistic Society all use tabs to utilise the space on their pages by showing more content in a smaller area. The use of tabs on the web is still a relatively new feature which has only really become popular in the last few years. This surge in popularity is mainly due to the introduction of JavaScript libraries such as jQuery which make it extremely easy to add tabs to a website.
7 Tips and Techniques For Multi-lingual Website AccessibilityIf you’ve ever worked on or built a multi-lingual website you will know there are a million and one things to keep in mind. Sorting out domain names, web server configuration, URL structure, page layout and the translation of content are likely to be high on your ‘to do’ list. With all that keeping you busy, meeting the accessibility requirements for your website may slip to the bottom of the pile. This shouldn’t be the case as making your multi-lingual website accessible is easy to achieve.
What are web captions?Captions make a huge difference to deaf and hard of hearing people who access video on the web. Providing real time translation of dialogue and sound effects into text format also provides a much wider group of people with a more engaging experience.
Techshare 2009Techshare is a series of events hosted by RNIB, that focus on digital technology and people with disabilities. People from around the world gather to present their ideas on web and mobile platforms, access technologies, digital content and much more. We presented a case study with BSkyB, and had a wonderful time meeting with people [...]
