All posts by Léonie Watson

Accessibility - Where are we now Mr Bowie?

Published
21st January 2013
by 
Léonie Watson
Category:
Accessibility
Accessibility - Where are we now Mr Bowie?

Dear David Bowie,

You may be one of my music Heroes, but your new website isn’t so much Rock n Roll Suicide as inclusive design murder. If The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell, your website is leading the way.

Accessibility is part of UX (it isn’t a swear word)

Published
13th November 2012
by 
Léonie Watson
Category:
Accessibility
Accessibility is part of UX (it isn’t a swear word)

People often go a bit wobbly when accessibility is mentioned. Visions of text only websites, monochrome designs and static content swirl in their heads. Teeth are gritted, excuses are prepared, and battle conditions ensue.

The reality is that accessibility is simply a key part of UX. A truly outstanding digital experience is a fusion of accessibility, usability, creativity and technology. The trick is to weave those things together, and to do that successfully there needs to be a cross pollination of skills and expertise.

The business case for HTML5

Published
11th September 2012
by 
Léonie Watson
Category:
Accessibility
The business case for HTML5

HTML5 has been in development since 2004, but it was thrust into the limelight when Steve Jobs aired his views on open standards in 2010. HTML5 (and its associated technologies) has now reached a level of maturity that has encouraged organisations to begin adopting it as the basis for key development projects.

There are several business benefits of moving towards a web-platform solution. How much you benefit will depend on the nature of your organisation, but there are several different advantages that may apply.

PDF accessibility - A strategy for handling the legacy

Published
9th March 2012
by 
Léonie Watson
Category:
Accessibility
PDF accessibility - A strategy for handling the legacy

The web is saturated with Portable Document Format (PDF) files. For more than 20 years PDF has been the Defacto standard for print documents on the web. PDF files are also notorious for their lack of accessibility. With legacy PDFs running into the thousands on many websites, just how can you tackle the job of making them accessible?

How to write good link text

Published
28th November 2011
by 
Léonie Watson
Category:
Accessibility
How to write good link text

Links are like sign posts. They should tell you what you’ll find when you follow them. Writing good link text isn’t difficult, but there are a few things to be aware of when you do.