Accessites.org
The Art of Accessibility

With your permission you might earn two awards for the price of one.

Past award winners, please read this: Effective immediately, the crew here at Accessites have on a limited basis joined forces with the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS) to develop a replacement for the now defunct Site-of-the-Month (SOTM) program. GAWDS members felt the quality level of sites being presented with the SOTM honor could be better. As a result an idea was hatched by both groups to use the Accessites’ submission criteria for GAWDS’ award consideration — which will be now be called the “GAWDS Web Accessibility Award” (and will be awarded quarterly, to initiate sometime in the 4th quarter of 2007). Moreover, it was decided that Accessites should actually make the nominations from our pool of awardees. We are now gatekeepers.

Continue reading “Accessites and GAWDS Cooperate” »

Many businesses… are notorious for putting fiscal concerns ahead of matters of compassion and social responsibility…

Last week all hell broke loose. For web accessibility there was a triumph of sorts. And in the world of web-is-money-first a small blow that is feared to mushroom into a costly problem. Some Internet merchants may feel they have better things to do than to acknowledge and cater to the needs of a “small” user group like the disabled — specifically the blind in the Target case (to learn more, links are provided later in this entry). Some people feel this lawsuit is frivolous and that private businesses should be left to decide on their own whether or not they accommodate these small user groups. Others, meanwhile, think the lawsuit is a good move and quite necessary.

Continue reading “Is the Target Lawsuit Frivolous?” »

To the benefit of the entire industry, I ask that you do the same [help spread the word]

I had once written a text-sizing script, but in the article that accompanied it, I stated I didn’t feel it was really something that was necessary or that should be added to a web page because this is already a function of the browser and really doesn’t bring anything new or marvelous to the table. It’s not that it’s harmful, but rather just needless. Unfortunately, ignorance prevails and lots of people who surf the web don’t know even a fraction of what their browser is capable of. So the responsibility of accommodating the needs of site visitors ends up on the shoulders of the conscientious web developer. But that’s not how it should be.

Continue reading “Don’t Provide Text Resize Widgets — Educate” »

The Philippine Web Accessibility Group (P.W.A.G.) was established in August 11^th, 2006 based on the recommendations made by more than 80 participants of the “Webmasters’ Interface on Accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Persons with Disabilities” held in May 2006 in Cebu City. The group was envisioned as an association of web designers who would promote web accessibility, provide training to upgrade skills and open up opportunities for the disabled sector.

Continue reading “Introducing the PWAG” »