“After half a decade of attempts and a misapplication of the ‘classic’ wheelchair icon, we finally have something that might work as a generic indicator of accessibility — from Apple, of all places. Just how hard is it to boil the concept of ‘accessibility’ down to a single symbol? And how does this task change when the goal is symbolizing accessible computers, Web sites, or audiovisual media like TV and film?”
Weblog Accessibility
“The whole point of weblogs is to share knowledge, ideas, and some small amount of self promotion (or exhibitionism, depending on the blog). If you design your weblog so that a disabled user has a hard time reading your ideas and thoughts you are losing part of your audience and you are missing an opportunity to share your ideas with a wider circle. And it’s just not fair.”
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Israeli Computer Mouse Helps the Blind to “See”
“An Israeli hi-tech company has produced a computer mouse that acts as the eyes of the blind and partially-sighted by helping them view computer graphics through touch. Growing dependence on graphics and ‘mice’ to navigate screens in increasingly computer-based societies have limited the ability of the partially-sighted to use new technology.”
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Bookblog: Writing a book on Web accessibility
“I have signed on the dotted line with New Riders Publishing and will write a book on the topic of Web accessibility. Finally. At last… The purpose of the book? Teaching developers, of any sophistication and working with any kind of budget (including none), how to improve the accessibility of online media. I have come up with a new approach to the issue, which has never been documented properly in the past.”
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Ergonomic guidelines for arranging a computer workstation
“Creating a good ergonomic working arrangement is important to protecting your health. The following 10 steps are a brief summary of those things that most Ergonomists agree are important. If you follow the 10 steps they should help you to improve your working arrangement. You can also use the Computer Workstation Checklist to help to pinpoint any areas of concern and take a look at the ‘Computer Workstation summary’ diagram’ for specific tips. However, every situation is different, and if you can’t seem to get your arrangement to feel right or you are confused about some of the following recommendations you should seek professional advice.”
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Review of Speech Synthesis Technology
“This is a pre-study for a larger audiovisual speech synthesis project that is planned to be carried out during 1998-2000 at Helsinki University of Technology. The main objective of this report is to map the situation of today’s speech synthesis technology and to focus on potential methods for the future of this project … The objective of the whole project is to develop high quality audiovisual speech synthesis with a well synchronized talking head, primarily in Finnish. Other aspects, such as naturalness, personality, platform independence, and quality assessment are also under investigation.” Be sure to check out the Speech Synthesis Demonstrations page.
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Web AccessiBlog
“A Weblog of articles and sites dealing with the topic of Web accessibility” put together by Joe Clark.
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Accessibility & Usability for e-Government
“Government web sites will need to be easy for all citizens to use, including those with a disability, so universal accessibility is a crucial issue in their design. This paper is intended as a primer for public sector officials who are responsible for or otherwise involved in the creation of web sites. It will tell you: *Why you should be concerned about accessibility; *What targets and legislation apply to you; *What accessibility is and which disabilities it concerns; *Some common accessibility problems and their causes; *What you need to do to develop an accessible web site.”
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Flash Access: Unclear on the Concept
“In Christian theology, it doesn’t matter exactly when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour. As long as you do it before you croak and ask forgiveness for your sins, you’re in like Flynn. This, apparently, is the Macromedia philosophy when it comes to accessibility.”
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Fundacao Laramara
A compelling and interesting approach to designing interfaces with sounds cues.
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